Richmond, VA – Graduate student
Alex Morales scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while fellow graduate student
Elijah Ford poured in 14 points to lead the Wagner College men's basketball team to a 58-44 statement victory at Atlantic 10 member VCU on Saturday night.
With the victory, the Seahawks open the season 2-0 for the first time since the 2005-2006 season, while the Rams fall to 1-1 on the year.
Wagner's two victories also came against two teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament last year, marking the first time since 2011-12 that the Seahawks have earned two non-conference victories over NCAA Tournament teams in the same season.
On Saturday night, both teams went back and forth in a tightly contested first period, with Wagner holding a 27-26 lead at the half. The Seahawks, however, led the entirety of the second half and pulled away late for the victory.
The deciding sequence came with under five minutes to play. After the Rams cut the deficit to three at 45-42 with 4:35 to play, a contested basket following an offensive rebound by freshman
Zaire Williams kickstarted an 11-0 Wagner run that culminated with a Morales three from the corner and a basket by Ford to give the Green and White a 54-42 advantage with 1:38 to play.
As a team, Wagner dominated the glass all night long, outrebounding VCU 42-24 while holding an 11-2 advantage in second-chance points.
Morales finished the night shooting 6-10 from the field, including 2-2 accuracy from deep and a perfect 6-6 from the free-throw line, as Wagner connected on 13-15 (86.7%) free throws throughout the night.
Similar to the season-opening win against Hartford, head coach
Bashir Mason once again relied on a deep rotation, with eight Seahawks recording points throughout the night.
Next up, Wagner will take on Saint Peter's on Wednesday, November 17, at 7:00 pm at the Spiro Sports Center. For tickets, visit
wagnerathletics.com/tickets.
