Staten Island, NY -  Winners of seven of the last eight contests, the Wagner men's basketball team concludes the 2016-17 regular season as they host the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds on Senior Day at the Spiro Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.

2017 Senior Class: Prior to the start of Saturday's contest between LIU Brooklyn and Wagner, the Wagner men's basketball program will recognize its seniors in a pregame ceremony. Two team managers; Dynasia Myles and Dylan Hart and three players: Greg Senat, Mike Aaman and Michael Carey have meant so much to the Seahawk program over the last four years.

Dynasia Myles and Dylan Hart:
From practice coordination, gameday preparation and team travel, Dynasia and Dylan have truly been an instrumental part of the team's success. Dynasia will be leaving Wagner with a degree in Nursing and a minor in Art while Dylan will be leaving with a degree in Business Administration. 

Greg Senat:
Our first senior hails from Elmont, NY and has been a four-year member of the Seahawks. Greg Senat grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds against Central Connecticut back on January 24, 2015. Off the court, Greg was nominated for the NABC Good Works Team and represented Wagner and the NEC at the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum in 2015. While he is playing his final home game on the hardwood, Senat will be suiting up for the Seahawks' football team for the second straight season. Will graduate Wagner with a degree in Anthropology.

Mike Aaman:
Our second senior has had multiple stellar performances since transferring from the University of Rhode Island. Mike Aaman has played in over 75 games on Grymes Hill, averaging nearly 10.0 ppg and has grabbed over 500 rebounds as a Seahawk. He has produced 37 double-digit scoring performance, topping the 20-plus point plateau four times and has seven double-doubles to his credit. This season, Aaman garnered the first Lou Henson Award National Player of the Week honors after finishing with 15 points and nine rebounds as the Seahawks defeated then ranked No. 18 team in the country, the UConn Huskies, 67-58 at Gampel Pavillion. Aaman will be eaving Wagner with a degree in Sociology.  

Michael Carey:
Our final honoree has made his mark in just a short time since arriving from San Jacinto College by way of Nassau, Bahamas. Last year he was the second-leading scorer on the Seahawks at 12.6 ppg while leading the team at 9.1 rpg, good for second best in the league. In shooting 50.3 percent from the floor, Carey earned All-NEC Second Team honors while being named to the All-Tournament Team and garnering NABC Division I District 18 Second Team accolade. For his career, Carey has scored in double-figures 44 times, topping the 20-point mark ten times, pulling down double-digit rebounds on 29 occasions and has to his credit 25 career double-doubles, third most in Wagner Seahawk history since the 1998-99 campaign. In May, he will be leaving Staten Island with a degree in Sociology. 

---

All-Time Series: One of the oldest rivalries renews itself on Saturday as the Seahawks and Blackbirds are squaring off for the 104th time with LIU Brooklyn holding a 58-45 edge in the head-to-head meeting. All-time, Wagner is 23-27 when taking on the Blackbirds on Grymes Hill. The Seahawks are 2-3 in thier last five contests against the Blackbirds, last picking up a victory back on March 5 in the NEC Semifinals, 81-65. 

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 85-67 and a conference-record of 55-31. Mason is 7-3 all-time against the Blackbirds. LIU Brooklyn's Jack Perri, who is in his sixth season as head coach of the Blackbirds and 12th as a member of the staff, sports a career mark of 96-87 and a record of 76-78 as head coach of LIU. Perri is 45-42 against the current members of the NEC and is 4-7 all-time against the Seahawks. 

Last Time Out Against LIU Brooklyn (1/19/17):  Junior guard Corey Henson tossed in 17 points while redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ / Raritan / Rhode Island) and freshman guard Connor Ferrell (Conyers, GA / Rockdale County / DME Sports Academy) added 13 and 10 points, respectively, but it was not enough as the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds posted a 76-69 win over the Seahawks at the Steinberg Wellness Center. Jashaun Agosto led all scorers with 19 points for the Blackbirds while Jerome Frink and Iverson Fleming tossed in 15 and 10 points, respectively, as the balanced Blackbirds had five players score nine or more points in the game.

Scouting The LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds: The Blackbirds can clinch the #1 seed with a win a over Wagner, a Mount loss to St. Francis Brooklyn and an FDU win over Saint Francis U. LIU and Mount can be no lower than the #2 seed in the upcoming Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament. LIU enters play riding a five-game win streak, after defeating the first-place Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers, 62-58, on Thursday evening in Emmitsburg, MD. In the contest, Iverson Fleming shot 61.5 percent from the floor to lead all players with 21 points. Nura Zanna had 11 points and 13 rebounds as he notched his 14th double double of the season. Jerome Frink finished with eight points and three assists while Raiquan Clark had seven points.  Frink leads the team in scoring at 16.8 ppg (4th in the NEC), rebounds at 8.9 per contest (2nd behind Wagner's Michael Carey - 9.0 rpg) and tenth in blocks (1.0 bpg).  LIU is third in scoring defense at 68.8 ppg and ranks right behind Wagner in second in scoring margin at +1.9. The Blackbirds are also second in field goal percent defense (42.7%), trailing only the Seahawks at 40.1%.
These two teams are the top two rebounding programs in the conference, with Wagner leading at +7.9 and LIU Brooklyn at +5.7. 

Francis Tabbed NEC Co-Rookie of the Week: The Northeast Conference (NEC) announced on Monday afternoon that Wagner men's basketball freshman Blake Francis (Herndon, VA/Westfield) was named Co-Rookie of the Week. For Francis, it is his first league citation, and he becomes the first Seahawk to garner the weekly honor since current teammate, JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) claimed the honor for the week of December 1, 2014. Francis has been one of the NEC's top three-point shooters all season and was lights out in the Seahawks' 2-0 week. Coming off the bench, he netted 37 points on just 14 shots, shooting 71.4 percent from the field and 70.0 percent from downtown. The Herndon, VA native averaged a team-high 18.5 ppg for the Seahawks, who have won six of its last seven games and sits alone in third place with a 10-6 league record. Francis hit 4-of-5 from long range and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe for a career-high 20 points in Thursday's 69-65 win over first place, Mount St. Mary's.  He converted six straight freebies in the final 33 seconds to seal the victory. On Saturday, Francis made 3-of-5 from beyond-the-arc and finished with a team and game-high 17 points in the Green & White's 73-55 victory over St. Francis Brooklyn. Currently, the sharp-shooting left-hander ranks second in the NEC in three-point accuracy (45.2 percent) while tallying 7.5 ppg.

NEC Tournament....At A Glance: Mount St. Mary's can clinch the #1 seed with a win over St. Francis Brooklyn, an LIU loss to Wagner or an SFU win over FDU. LIU can clinch the #1 seed with a win over Wagner, a Mount loss to SFBK and an FDU win over SFU. LIU and Mount can be no lower than the #2 seed. Wagner has clinched a home @NECBBT game and can take the #3 seed with a win over LIU, an SFU loss to FDU or a Mount win over SFBK. The winner of SFU-FDU will host a home game in the NEC Tournament. SFU can go as high as #3 with a win, a Wagner loss and a Mount loss to SFBK. FDU will be the #4 seed with a win. SFU can be no lower than the #5 seed. If FDU loses, SHU wins and BRY wins...SHU #5, BRY #6, FDU #7, RMU #8
If FDU loses, SHU wins and BRY loses...SHU #5, FDU #6, BRY #7, RMU #8 If FDU loses, SHU loses and BRY wins...BRY #5, FDU #6, RMU #7, SHU #8 If FDU loses, SHU loses and BRY loses...FDU #5, RMU #6, SHU #7, BRY #8 If FDU wins, SHU wins and BRY wins...SFU #5, SHU #6, BRY #7, RMU #8 If FDU wins, SHU wins and BRY loses...SFU #5, SHU #6, BRY #7, RMU #8
If FDU wins, SHU loses and BRY wins...SFU #5, BRY #6, RMU #7, SHU #8 If FDU wins, SHU loses and BRY loses...SFU #5, RMU #6, SHU #7, BRY #8

Consecutive NEC Tournament Appearances (Current)
14 - Robert Morris
7 - WAGNER
5 - Mount St. Mary's
4 - Saint Francis U
3 - LIU Brooklyn, Sacred Heart
2 - Fairleigh Dickinson
1 - Bryant

February Frenzy: The Seahawks are 6-1 in the month of February after their most recent victory, a come-from-behind 69-66 win over Bryant on Thursday night. Under head coach Bashir Mason, the Green & White are 25-13 in the final month of the regular season.

Crazy Eights: Wagner  is 7-1 over their last eight games and are 3-0 at home during this stretch. During this stretch, the Green & White are shooting 42.6 percent from the floor while tallying 67.4 ppg. The Seahawks are allowing just 61.6 points from their opponents and holding them to just 36.9 percent from the floor and 29.5 percent from the outside.  Corey Henson, Mike Aaman, and Michael Carey are all averaging double-digits during the last eight games with Henson paving the way at 13.6 a contest while shooting 87.1 from the charity stripe and dishing out 2.6 assists per contest. Aaman has added 11.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg, shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 77.8 percent from the free-throw line in 22.9 minutes.  The 6-8 forward has also rejected 13 shots during this stretch, nearly 2.0 bpg.  Carey has shot an efficient 49.4 percent from floor while pulling down a team-best 9.4 rebounds and contributing 11.9 ppg. Guards JoJo Cooper and Blake Francis (Herndon, VA/Westfield) have seen their production increase as well. Cooper has logged 30.3 mpg over the last eight  games, shooting close to 40.0 percent from the field, 44.4 percent from three while corralling 4.4 rebounds and dishing out 2.4 helpers while netting 9.9 points a game. The Co-NEC Rookie of the Week, Francis, has converted 44.2 percent from the floor in eight games off the bench while shooting the ball at a 46.4 percent clip from the outside and hitting 83.3 percent of his chances from the line as he is pouring in 8.3 ppg. 

Double-Double Trouble: For the second time this season, redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman and senior guard Michael Carey recorded double-doubles propelling Wagner to victory. Against league-leaders, Mount St. Mary's, on last Thursday, 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.  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. 

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 25 career double-doubles, the most recent coming in Wagner's come-from-behind 69-66 victory against Bryant on Thursday night in which 6-5 guard scored 14 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.

Controlling The Glass: Wagner has outrebounded its opponents in 21 of 27 games this season. The Green & White ranks 10th 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 (39.8) and rebounding defense (31.9) and are outmuscling their opponents by +7.9 in the Northeast Conference.