Brooklyn Heights, NY - Winners of four of its last five games, the Wagner men's basketball team makes its final regular season road trip as the Seahawks make the short trek across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn Heights to battle the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers.  The Green & White continued their push for a home Northeast Conference (NEC) playoff game after defeating league-leader, Mount St. Mary's, 69-65, on Thursday night on ESPN3. St. Francis Brooklyn dropped its 13th straight contest, falling to the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds, 82-45, in the annual "Battle of Brooklyn."

Last Time Out: Freshman guard Blake Francis (Herndon, VA / Westfield) had a career night, converting 6-of-6 from the charity stripe over the final 33 seconds while hitting 4-of-5 from beyond-the-arc en route to a game and career-high 20 points as Wagner defeated the first-place, Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers, in come-from-behind fashion, 69-65, on Thursday evening. Senior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas / Lamar Consolidated / San Jacinto) and redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ / Raritan / Rhode Island) added 16 and 10 points, respectively. The teams have now split the regular season series as the Mount escaped with a 57-56 win in Emmitsburg, MD back on December 31. In addition to his 16-point output, which came on 7-of-11 shooting, Carey pulled down 13 rebounds in recording his ninth double-double of the season and 24^th in his two-year Seahawk career. Aaman also registered a double-double on this night with 11 rebounds to go along with his 13 points. For Aaman, the double-double was the seventh of his career and third of the season. 

All-Time Series: Saturday's contest marks the 93rd all-time meeting between the two New York schools with the head-to-head series favoring the Terriers at 50-42. Wagner has won the last three meetings with the previous two being decided by less than five points. Earlier this season, the Seahawks edge the Terriers, 66-64, as junior guard Corey Henson found space with seven seconds  With just seven seconds to go in regulation, junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) found space and hit a driving layup, which proved to be the game-winner. 

The Coaches: Wagner's Bashir Mason, the 2015-16 Jim Phelan NEC Coach of the Year, is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Wagner Seahawks, owning a career record of 84-67 and a conference-record of 54-31. Mason is 3-5 all-time against the Terriers. St. Francis Brooklyn's Glenn Braica owns a career mark of 102-114 while posting a NEC record of 67-53. Saturday's contest between Wagner and St. Francis Brooklyn also pits the last two NEC Coaches of the Year, as Mason won the 2015-16 honor following Braica, who captured his second NEC COTY in at the conclusion of the 2014-15 season.

Last Time Out Against St. Francis Brooklyn (1/28/17):  With just seven seconds to go in regulation, junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) found space and hit a driving layup, which proved to be the game-winner, as the Wagner men's basketball team defeated cross-borough Northeast Conference (NEC) rival, St. Francis Brooklyn, 66-64. Win the victory, fifth-year head coach Bashir Mason earned career win No. 80 and picked up NEC-win No. 50. Redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/ Raritan/Rhode Island) tossed in a game-high 19 points on just 4-of-9 shooting while converting on 11-of-13 from the free-throw line. Aaman also grabbed nine rebounds and swatted away two shots in his 31 minutes of action. Senior guard Michael Carey produced his 22nd career double-double, finishing the ballgame with 15 points and a game-best 11 caroms. Three Terriers finished in double-figures, led by a Yunus Hopkinson's team-high 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting while converting 4-of-6 from beyond-the-arc. Rasheem Dunn added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds and five assists. Jagos Lasic had a career afternoon, scoring ten points and dishing out three assists in 24 minutes of play. 

Scouting The St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers: On the year, the Terriers, who feature just one senior, have three players averaging double-figures, led by freshman guard Rasheem Dunn, who is pouring in 13.5 ppg (12th in the NEC) while shooting 39.7 percent from the field and 70.6 percent from the free-throw line in just 29.9 minutes a contest. Staten Island native Glenn Sanabria, who missed the majority of 2015-16 due to injury, is netting 12.6 ppg (20th in the league) while making the second most three-pointers on the season with 66. The lone senior, Yunus Hopkinson, is chipping in 11.8 ppg (22nd in the NEC). Overall, St. Francis Brooklyn is shooting 34.7 percent from the field, 28.4 percent from three-point range and 66.2 percent from the free-throw line.

February Frenzy: The Seahawks are 4-1 in the month of February after its most recent victory, a 69-65 triumph of first-place, Mount St. Mary's. Under head coach Bashir Mason, the Green & White are 24-13 in the final month of the regular season. 

Double-Double Trouble: For the second time this season, redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman and senior guard Michael Carey recorded double-doubles to propel Wagner to victory. Against league-leaders, Mount St. Mary's, on Thursday night, Aaman finished the game with ten points and 11 rebounds in 30 minutes of play. For the 6-8 Hazlet, NJ native, it marked the third double-double of the season and seventh for his career. Carey, who came alive in the second half for the Seahawks, finished with 16 points and a game-best 13 caroms. For the Nassau, Bahamas native, it marked the 24th career double-double and ninth of the season while the 6-5 senior guard has now posted double-figures in scoring 43 times in his career (17 this season) and grabbing double-digit rebounds for the 28th time in his career (11 this season). Aaman and Carey each went for double-doubles back on February 9, a 76-74 overtime win at Saint Francis U when Aaman scored a career-best 26 points and corralled 13 rebounds while Carey ended the contest with 12 points and ten rebounds. 

Iron Mike: Senior guard Michael Carey is the lone member of the 2016-17 Seahawks to start in every game this season, playing in 25 straight games. 

Carey Seeing 20/20: Michael Carey was the sixth player in NEC history with at least 22 boards in a game and one of seven NEC players in the last 20 years to finish with 20 points and 20 rebounds in a contest when he went for 21 points and 22 rebounds against defending league champions, Fairleigh Dickinson, back on January 5.
 

Simply Mr. Double-Double: Senior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) has notched 24 career double-doubles, the most recent coming in Wagner's come-from-behind 69-65 victory against Mount St. Mary's on Thursday night in which 6-5 guard scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

Controlling The Glass: Wagner has outrebounded its opponents in 19 of 25 games this season. The Green & White ranks 16th in the entire NCAA in rebounding margin at 7.6. Against local rival, Staten Island (12/22), the Green & White outmuscled the Dolphins by a staggering 32, 58-26 in its 52-point victory (94-42). Three times this season, the Seahawks and their opponents grabbed the same amount of boards, most recently at Fairleigh Dickinson (2/4/17) (37). The other two times: Nov. 30 @ UMass (31) and against Sacred Heart (1/7/17) (37). Last season, Wagner had outrebounded its opposition by double-figures in 17 games. The Seahawks rank first in rebounding offense (39.3) and rebounding defense (31.7) and are outmuscling their opponents by +7.6 in the Northeast Conference. 

Seahawks Tale Of Two Halves: In the first half of contests, Wagner is shooting 42.0 percent from the field, 34.1 percent from beyond-the-arc and 64.9 percent from the free-throw line while holding a +3.8 advantage on the boards (19.8-15.9). In the second half of play, the Seahawks are shooting 43.4 percent from the field, 30.7 percent from three-point range and 70.9 percent from the free-throw line while holding a +3.8 advantage on the boards (19.2-15.4).

Paint Production: Wagner has scored 722 of its 1679 total points from inside the paint, coming out to 43.0 percent of its total scoring. Twice this season, the Seahawks scored 40 points in the paint at Bryant (1/12/17), matching the production set on the road at American (11/22). For the 13th time this year, Wagner has scored at least 30 or more points from downlow and in seven of those eight contests have outscored their opponents, the last coming at Central Connecticut Blue Devils (2/2/17), 30-24. 

Getting A Second Chance: The Seahawks are thriving off second chance opportunities. For the season, Wagner is averaging 13.7 points off second chances while their opponents are tallying 9.2 points (343-229).

In The Final Five: In the final five minutes of the game, Wagner is shooting 45.9 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from three-point land while connecting on 71.5 percent from the free-throw line. 

At The Half...: When leading at the half under fifth-year Bashir Mason, the Seahawks have posted an overall record of 62-13. This season, the Green & White have entered the intermission with the lead in 16 of the 25 games (9-7 record in these games).

Seahawks In The Pros....UPDATE:
Tyler Murray | Niagara River Lions | Canadian NBL:
16 GP, 5 GS, 18.9 MPG; 2.8 ppg; 1.4 rpg; 2.2 apg; 32.6 FG; 81.3% FT

Orlando Parker | PS Karlsruhe | German Pro B:
18 GP, 9 GS, 23.4 MPG; 13.7 ppg; 5.4 rpg; 47.2% FG; 84.0% FT

Durell Vinson | Starwings Basket Regio Basel | Swiss LNA:
14 GP, 14 GS, 31.7 MPG; 10.5 ppg; 10.2 rpg; 0.9 apg; 53.7% FG

Jonathon Williams  | VfL Kirchheim Knights | German Pro A:
21 GP, 20 GS, 34.4 MPG; 19.4 ppg; 6.8 rpg; 2.8 apg; 46.4% FG; 35.6% 3PT; 79.1% FT

Three-Ball Galore: The men's basketball team have connected on at least one made three-pointer in 393 straight contests. The last time the Seahawks didn't convert a three-pointer was back on February 28, 2004, at home against NEC-foe, Mount St. Mary's in which the Green & White was held to 0-of-13 from three. Against Central Connecticut (12/29), the Seahawks made a season-high 11 three-pointers.

Next Up For Wagner:  The final two games of the 2016-17 regular will be contested at the Spiro Sports as the Seahawks host the Bryant University Bulldogs on Thursday, February 23 at 7:00 pm and the regular season final on February 25 against LIU Brooklyn at 4:00 pm. Saturday will be Senior Day as the Seahawks will honor their three upperclassmen: Mike Aaman; Mike Carey; Greg Senat in a pregame ceremony. Both games will be live on NEC Front Row as Joey Wahler will have the call. 

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