Pictured Above: Elijah Davis (left) and Blake Francis (Photo by Dave Saffran)
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Staten Island, NY – The Wagner men's basketball team won its fifth straight game overall and is now 11-0 at home for the first time in school history following a 72-59 victory over Central Connecticut as
Romone Saunders and
Elijah Davis led the way with 15 points apiece on Thursday night at the Spiro Sports Center.
With the win, the Seahawks improve to 16-6 on the season and an NEC-best 9-2, while the Blue Devils fall to 12-12 overall, 5-6 in conference. The Green & White have now won eleven straight games at home for the first time since the 2007-08 season when the Seahawks rattled off 11 straight from December 8, 2007 (64-59 win over St. Francis Brooklyn) until March 6, 2008 (71-62 victory over LIU Brooklyn in the Northeast Conference quarterfinals). The Green & White dropped a 55-49 decision to Sacred Heart in the semifinals round, that was played at the Spiro Sports Center.
Wagner, whose trademark brand of tenacious defense held CCSU to 37.7 percent shooting, and 14.3 percent from beyond-the-arc, had four players reach double figures on the night as senior guard
JoJo Cooper scored 14 points, along with 12 assists, while sophomore guard
Blake Francis,
the reigning Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Player of the Week, added 13.
For Cooper, who added three rebounds and a steal while playing the entire 40 minutes, this marks his seventh double-double of the season and 10th of his career. He also led the Green & White in assists for the 20th time this season (out of 22 games) and 74th time in his career. His 12 helpers on the night were one shy of his career high of 13, set back on December 5 vs. UMass Lowell.
After taking a 35-31 halftime lead, the Seahawks outscored CCSU 23-16 in the opening 10:44 of the second half and when Saunders hit a driving layup with 9:26 left, Wagner was in control at 58-47. The Blue Devils then answered with a 9-4 spurt to draw within six points with 4:13 left after a 1-for-2 trip to the line by Deion Bute.
Wagner responded with five straight points on a strong Saunders drive in traffic at the 3:54 mark, followed by a Cooper three-pointer at 3:16, which pushed the lead to 11 at 67-56 and the Seahawks held on from there.
Tyler Kohl led all scorers with 21 points for the Blue Devils while Bute and Joe Hugley added 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Wagner shot 43 percent for the game and the Seahawks were credited with 17 assists on 24 made field goals while committing just 11 turnovers, one shy of a season low.
The Seahawks used an early 8-1 run to taking a 10-3 lead before CCSU trimmed the deficit to one, at 11-10, on the heels of a 7-1 outburst of its own.
Over the next 6:22, Wagner found its rhythm, outscoring the Blue Devils, 18-11, in taking a 29-21 advantage as the Seahawks converted on 6-of-9 of its field goal attempts during this stretch, while draining 4-of-5 from the three-point range.
The stifling Green & White defense held the visitors to just three made field goals in ten attempts while not allowing a three-point shot in four chances. Davis was the catalyst for the home team, scoring all 11 of his points in this run.
CCSU closed out the half scoring ten of the final 16 points in closing to within four points at the break. Davis and Francis scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the opening stanza. As a team, Wagner shot 42.3 percent from the field while hitting on 57.1 percent from beyond the arc. CCSU, which held a 19-14 edge on the boards in the opening half, shot 40.7 percent from the floor while not making a three-pointer in six attempts but converted on 90.0 percent (9-of-10) from the charity stripe in the first half.
With the win, Wagner now holds a 26-19 edged in the head-to-head series and has won its last six games against the Blue Devils. At the Spiro Sports Center, Wagner is now 18-5 against Central Connecticut, winning the last 10 home contests. Sixth-year head coach
Bashir Mason is now 10-3 all-time against CCSU while holding a 7-1 record against the Blue Devils at the Spiro Sports Center.
Next up, Wagner welcomes local NEC rival St. Francis Brooklyn to the Spiro Sports Center on Saturday, February 3 with tip-off set for 4:00 p.m.
NOTE: JoJo Cooper has now dished out 459 career assists, good for seventh on the all-time list, passing Tony Rice (1992-96) who had 455. Next on the list is Seahawk Hall of Famer Billy Kurisko (1987-1991) at 496.
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