Staten Island, NY - The Wagner men's basketball team will host defending Northeast Conference (NEC) champion LIU Brooklyn at the Spiro Sports Center on Saturday, February 2 in a 4:00 p.m. tip.
The Matchup
In the first meeting between these two longtime local rivals since the Blackbirds knocked off the Seahawks in the 2018 NEC championship game, both teams are coming in with identical 4-5 conference records following losses on Thursday. Wagner was tripped up at home by Bryant, 71-64, on Thursday night in a game seen n ESPN+ while LIU Brooklyn dropped an 80-77 decision at Fairleigh Dickinson in a contest televised on ESPNU. With those matching 4-5 NEC records, the Seahawks and Blackbirds enter Saturday's play tied for seventh place in the league standings.
Preseason No. 3 vs. No. 4
In the 2018-19 NEC preseason coaches poll back in October, LIU Brooklyn was picked to finish third while the Seahawks were chose number four.
All-Time Series Against The LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds
One of the oldest running series in Wagner history, the Seahawks and Blackbirds are meeting for the 108th time with LIU Brooklyn leading 61-46. All-time, Wagner is 24-29 against the Blackbirds on Staten Island. Seahawk seventh-year head coach
Bashir Mason holds a career record of 8-7 against the Blackbirds. Since 1990, the Green & White are 34-28 vs. LIU and 4-6 in the last three seasons.
Wagner Last Time Out
Freshman guard
Jonathan Norfleet scored a career-high 14 points in matching redshirt sophomore guard
Chase Freeman for game-high scoring honors but it wasn't enough to offset a 23-point outing from Bryant's SaBastian Townes as the Bulldogs withstood a late Seahawk rally in recording a 71-64 win on Thursday. Townes, a 6-5, 260-pound power forward, scored 11 of the Bulldogs' first 13 points of the game during a defensive-minded, halfcourt opening half that saw Bryant build a 31-29 halftime lead. The Bulldogs opened the second half with a 7-2 burst in the first three minutes of the second half in building a 38-31 lead. Bryant eventually built a 13-point advantage at 51-38 following a Patrick Harding layup with 11:24 left to play. Following an exchange of baskets, the lead was again at 13 points, 58-45, with 3:33 to play following a baseline jumper by Townes. Wagner then ran off nine unanswered points on a Norfleet three-pointer, followed by consecutive layups from redshirt senior guard
Romone Saunders, junior forward
Chance Anderson and senior guard
Elijah Davis, the latter coming a fast-break bucket following a wild scramble for the ball that made it 58-54 with 2:17 remaining. This is as close as the Seahawks would get, however, as Bryant answered with an Adam Grant layup, followed by another Townes jumper, this one coming at 1:36 left, that made it a 62-54 game and the Bulldogs were able to hang on from there. Saunders was the third Seahawk to hit for double figures, finishing with 13 points in recording his 19th consecutive double-digit scoring game. Saunders, who is 25th on the all-time Wagner career scoring list, is now up to 1,200 career points, 16 behind Tyler Murray, who is in 24th place with 1,216 points.
LIU Last Time Out
The LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team rallied from an 11-point deficit to nearly come back and beat Fairleigh Dickinson on the road Thursday night, but the Blackbirds couldn't overcome the Knights' sharp shooting, and fell, 80-77. LIU had four players scored in double digits in the loss, led by junior Julian Batts' 17 points, six rebounds and five assists. Sophomore Ty Flowers had 16 points, a team-high seven assists and six rebounds, while senior Raul Frias was the night's sharp-shooter, with 16 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field, including four three pointers. Senior Raiquan Clark also added 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. With the loss, the Blackbirds move to 10-11 overall, and 4-5 in the Northeast Conference
Romone Saunders 25th on All-Time Seahawk Scoring List
20. Frantz Pierre-Louis (1994-99) 1,271
21. Jamal Smith (2004-08) 1,260
22. Howard Thompkins (1978-81) 1,236
23. Bob Mahala, Sr. (1950-52, 1955-57) 1,217
24. Tyler Murray (2008-12) 1,216
25. Romone Saunders (2014-pres.) 1,200
Saunders Elsewhere In All-Time Record
*Single-Season Free Throw Percentage: 3rd (.882)
*Career Three-Point Attempts: 9th (489)
*Career Three-Pointers Made: 10th (173)
Sumbry 6th All-Time in Blocked Shots
Redshirt senior center has 116 blocked shots to his credit as a Seahawk (127 for his career, counting 11 during the 2013-14 season while at Quinnipiac. Those 116 rejections are good for sixth on the all-time Wagner career list.
All-Time Blocks
1 Naofall Folahan (2010-14) 230
2 Frantz Pierre-Louis (1994-1999) 176
3 Mladin Mutavdzic (1991-1993) 135
4 Jermaine Hall (1999-2003) 124
5 Durell Vinson (2003-06/07-08) 118
6 A.J. Sumbry (2016-pres.) 116
Wagner Head Coach Bashir Mason
The Green & White are guided by two-time and reigning Northeast Conference (NEC) Coach of the Year
Bashir Mason (118-90, .573), the fastest coach to win 100 games in Seahawk history, who has developed 12 All-NEC selections during his tenure.
Now in his seventh season at the helm of the Seahawk ship, Mason was the youngest head coach at the Division I level when he was named the 18th head men's basketball coach in school history on March 26, 2012. At age 34, he remains one of the nation's youngest head coaches, checking in as the sixth-most youthful head coach heading into the 2018-19 campaign.
Defense and rebounding have been at the forefront of Wagner's success throughout Mason's tenure and the 2018-19 season has been no different as the Seahawks rank second in the NEC in both field goal percentage defense (.428), and scoring defense (68.8), while leading the league in rebounding margin (+4.6).
Northeast Conference Launches New Branding Initiative
The NEC launched its "All In, Ball Out" branding campaign at the league's "Social" Media Day in Brooklyn on Oct. 24, 2018.
The campaign is meant to capture the essence and attitude of the NEC's basketball-centric nature, and convey a host of traits common to its student-athletes, teams and the Conference itself.
A series of hoops theme nights were announced to take place during league play and enhance the fan experience through coordinated marketing efforts within the conference. The theme nights are NECNewYear (Jan. 3 & 5), MLK Day (Jan. 21) and Love & NEC Basketball (Feb. 14 & 16).
Wagner Picked Fourth in NEC Preseason Poll
The Northeast Conference (NEC) preseason coaches' poll was announced on October 24 at the league's Social Media Day at Barclays Center, and the defending regular season champion Wagner men's basketball team was predicted to finish fourth by the coaches for the upcoming 2018-19 season.
Saint Francis U was tabbed the preseason favorite, securing eight first-place votes. Fairleigh Dickinson was predicted to finish second while defending league champion LIU Brooklyn was picked third, with both the Knights and Blackbirds securing one first-place preseason vote apiece.
Wagner checked in at fourth, Robert Morris was chosen fifth, with Central Connecticut and St. Francis Brooklyn taking the sixth and seventh spots, respectively. Bryant (8th), Sacred Heart (9th) and Mount St. Mary's round out the 10-team poll.
Wagner Athletics
Men's Basketball:
Head Coach
Bashir Mason:
