Pictured Above: Sophomore guard Blake Francis knocking down one of his four made three-pointers tonight (Credit: Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune Herald)
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Waco, TX - The Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season champion Wagner College men's basketball team stood toe-to-toe with the Baylor University Bears of the Big 12 Conference for long stretches before the Bears pulled away late for an 80-59 victory in the first round of the 2018 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) at the Ferrell Center in a game that was televised nationally on ESPN 2.
The eighth-seeded Seahawks, who earned a spot in the NIT for the second time in three years by virtue of their winning the Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season title with a league mark of 14-4, finish the season with a 23-10 overall record.
With the win, Baylor, which went 8-10 in Big 12 play, improves to 19-14 overall and now moves on to the second round of the NIT vs. the winner of Wednesday night's matchup between No. 4 Mississippi State and and No. 5 Nebraska.
All NIT games this season used several experimental rules.The three-point line is extended by approximately 18 inches to the same distance used by FIBA for international competition (22 feet 1.75 inches). The 2018 NIT also featured a wider free throw lane, from 12 feet to 16 feet, consistent with the width used by the NBA. All NIT games are divided into four 10-minute quarters as opposed to two 20-minute halves, and the teams shoot two free throws beginning with the fifth foul of each quarter. Finally, the shot clock will reset to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound instead of the full 30 seconds.
Baylor, which is guided by head coach Scott Drew, jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter before freshman forward
Nigel Jackson was able to grab the rebound an score Wagner's first basket of the game. Following a three-point from Manu LeComte, Sophomore guard
Blake Francis drained a corner trifecta of his own, trimming the deficit to 10-5. A Tristan Clark dunk gave the Bears a 12-5 advantage but Francis was able to create space and bury a mid-range jumper to cut the Baylor lead to 12-7 at the 4:30 mark. The Bears closed out the first quarter on an 8-2 run in extending its lead to 21-9.
After Baylor opened the second quarter on a brief 6-2 run, Wagner cut the Bears' lead to just seven at 29-22, thanks to a 9-2 run of its own over a 2:24 stretch. Francis scored eight of the nine points with junior guard
Devin Liggeons chipping in one-of-two from the charity stripe. Baylor closed the half with an 11-5 burst in taking a 40-27 lead at the break.
Wagner's best stretch of basketball tonight came in the third quarter when the Seahawks outscored Baylor 14-10 over during a seven-minute stretch to make it a single-digit game at 50-41. For the quarter, the Seahawks outscored the Bears by a 16-13 count in making it 53-43 game heading to the fourth before the Bears pulled away late.
Francis led the way for the Seahawks with 23 points, 15 of which came in the opening half. For the game, the crafty left-hander was 4-of-10 shooting from three-point range. The All-NEC Second Teamer's first three-pointer at the 6:05 mark of the second quarter gave him 99 for his career which is a Wagner record, surpassing Joey Mundweiler's mark of 98, set back in 2008-09.
Redshirt junior guard
Romone Saunders added nine points and a game-high eight rebounds while Jackson and senior guard
JoJo Cooper finished with seven points apiece.
Baylor was led by Lecomte's game-24 points which lead five players in double figures. Terry Maston came off the bench to hit for 13 points, Nuni Omot tallied 11 while Jo Lual-Acuil, Jr. King McLure tallied 10 points apiece.
Wagner was competing in its fourth NIT all time and are now 1-4, earning the program's first-ever postseason tournament win back on March 16, 2016 when the Seahawks, as the No. 8 seed, stunned the top-seed, St. Bonaventure of the Atlantic 10, 79-75, after building a 14-point halftime lead.
The 2017-18 Seahawks are the eighth team in Seahawk history to reach the 20-win mark, and the second under head coach
Bashir Mason with those 23 wins tying for fourth all-time. The 21 regular season wins by the Seahawks this season were the most under Mason. In 2015-16, Mason led the Seahawks to a regular season mark of 20-9 en route to a 23-11 overall record.
Postgame Quotes - Wagner Head Coach Bashir Mason (Courtesy of Baylor Athletic Communications)
Opening Statement…
"Baylor's great. Those guys are long, athletic, really talented. You know the job we did with breaking those guys down in the past 48 hours once we found out we were playing them, it was really different playing those guys tonight. I hope they go far in the NIT, those guys are really good. I would like to focus on my guys. I thought my guys battled and competed, they were excited to be here and gave it everything they had. We fell a little short but we can't let tonight define what our season was. It was a great season coaching them. I couldn't be prouder of a group."
On getting the offensive boards…
"That's been one of our offensive staples all year, hitting the backboard. I wish we converted some of those offensive rebounds into some more points, but we focus on that in practice every day and for us, that shows that we're playing hard, we're engaged in the game when we're hitting the glass that way so that number shows we came to compete and play hard."
On Baylor's lead at the end…
"
Blake Francis played great in the first half, kept us around,
JoJo Cooper kept us around and
Romone Saunders. Three of our best guys couldn't make shots. In the second half I was hoping those two would get going, JoJo and Romone, and they never really got going. You've got to give Baylor credit for that, their length and their closeouts on those guys was much different than what we've seen all year so they made us struggle."
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