Bridgeport, CT – The Wagner College men's basketball team earned a tough 63-50 victory over Fairfield to close out its non-conference schedule on Thursday.
The victory marked the 150
th win of head coach
Bashir Mason's coaching career. Mason is already Wagner's winningest coach in the Division I era and reached the milestone in 276 games, winning more than 54% of his games.
On Thursday, both teams battled throughout a tightly contested game, as Wagner took the lead with six minutes to play on three free throws by graduate student
Alex Morales, which made it 47-44.
Two minutes later, the deciding play of the game came on an athletic finish by graduate student
Will Martinez, who gave the Seahawks a 54-48 advantage with 3:59 to play.
From there, Wagner went 9-10 at the free throw line and only allowed one additional field goal by the Stags to earn the victory.
Morales and graduate student
Elijah Ford led all scorers with 15 points apiece, while redshirt senior
Raekwon Rogers finished with 11 points. Martinez was Wagner's fourth player in double figures, contributing 10 points.
With the Seahawks down 17-8 midway through the first half, Ford proved to be the catalyst on the offensive end, scoring eight of Wagner's next 10 points to help the Green and White tie the game at 18-18 with 7:12 to play in the first half.
Morales beat the buzzer at the end of the period, giving Wagner a 28-24 advantage at the midway mark, but the Stags answered to start the second half, taking a 34-31 lead with 16:39 to play.
Both teams went back and forth for a majority of the period, until Wagner's late run sealed the game and sent the Seahawks home victorious.
With the win, Wagner finishes its non-conference slate with a 6-2 record, while the Stags fall to 8-5 on the year.
The Seahawks are scheduled to open Northeast Conference (NEC) play on December 29 at Saint Francis U.
