Pictured Above: Senior Guard JoJo Cooper (photo by
Gabriel Rhodes)
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Box Score (HTML)
New Britain, CT – Senior guard
JoJo Cooper dribbled the length of the court, pulled up at the foul line, and knocked down a jump shot with 0.4 seconds left to play to lift the first-place Wagner men's basketball team to a pulsating 64-62 Northeast Conference (NEC) victory at Central Connecticut on Thursday night.
With the win, the Seahawks, who clinched the NEC regular season title, accompanying No. 1 seed and homecourt advantage throughout next week's conference tournament, improve their record to 21-7 on the season, 14-3 in league play. In defeat, the Blue Devils, who dropped both meetings with Wagner this season, falls to 13-17 overall, 6-11 in the NEC.
Wagner, which closes out the regular season with a 4:00 p.m. tip at Mount St. Mary's on Saturday, will host the No. 8 seed in 2018 Northeast Conference Tournament Quarterfinal game on Wednesday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m. on NEC Front Row
Redshirt junior guard
Romone Saunders paced a balanced offensive effort with 14 points to lead five players in double figures. Cooper's clutch game-winner gave him 13 points, which matched the output supplied by junior guard
Devin Liggeons, while sophomore guard
Blake Francis and redshirt junior forward A.J. Sumbry added 10 points apiece. Sumbry paced the Seahawks with a game-high eight caroms in the victory.
In a tight, evenly-played game throughout, the Seahawks trailed 34-31 at halftime and never led by more than eight points. A three-pointer by Saunders with 1:27 left to play gave Wagner a 62-57 lead. On CCSU's ensuing possession, Tyler Kohl drained a three-pointer to make it a two-point game at 62-60.
Central regained possession of the ball with 26 seconds left following a missed jumper by Cooper. After calling a timeout with 21 seconds to go, Kohl hit a cutting Deion Bute who converted a layup with seven seconds remaining, tying the game at 62-62 as the Seahawks called timeout to set up their final possession.
Following the timeout, Cooper received the inbounds pass from Saunders and quickly dribbled the ball up the middle of the court before he put on the brakes at the foul line, pulled up, and knocked down the game winner. The Blue Devils immediately called timeout with 0.3 ticks left, which was not enough time to get off a final shot, as the Seahawks began to celebrate their 21
st win of the season.
For CCSU, Joe Hugley led the way with 17 points while Austin Nehls and Kohl added 15 and 13 points, respectively.
The final statistics were as even as the final margin would suggest. Wagner shot 46.4 percent (26-of-56) for the game, just behind the 46.7 percent (21-of-45) shot by CCSU. While the teams shot virtually the same percentage from the floor overall, they were exactly the same in three-point shooting at 50 percent, with Wagner hitting 7-of-14 from three-point range and the Blue Devils were 11-of-22 from beyond the arc.
The Green & White won the rebounding battle 30-24 and held a 26-14 edge in points in the paint, while CCSU led in points off turnovers by a 21-13 count.
Wagner got on the board first in this one on a bucket by Sumbry before Central Connecticut responded with back-to-back threes from Nehls in taking a 6-2 lead.
The Seahawks then answered with a 10-0 run over the next three minutes in taking a 12-6 advantage while holding CCSU without a field goal while hitting 4-of-5 from the floor themselves. Kohl's three-pointer at the 14:08 mark stopped the Seahawk run and a Bute free throw cut the visitors lead to two, 12-10. Following a Cooper jumper, the Blue Devils then played their best basketball of the night over the next 9:30, putting together a lengthy 22-8 run, capped by another Nehls trey, in opening their biggest lead of the contest at 32-26.
During this nearly 10-minute segment, Wagner was just 4-of-11 shooting during their run, while the home team was able to convert on a sizzling 8-of-10 from the field, which including four three-pointers.
The Seahawks then closed the half by scoring five of the final seven points, cutting the deficit to three, 34-31, at the break. In the opening frame, the visitors shot 44.8 percent from the field while only hitting on 28.6 percent from long range.
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