Staten Island, NY – The Wagner College men's basketball team pushed its winning streak to eight games on Saturday night with a wire-to-wire 67-52 victory over Saint Francis U at the Spiro Sports Center.
With the victory, the Seahawks are now alone in first place in the Northeast Conference (NEC) with a 9-4 record in NEC play, while the Red Flash drop to 5-11 in league action.
Senior
Will Martinez led four Seahawks in double figures with 20 points on 7-11 shooting from the field. Senior
Elijah Ford recorded his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while senior
Alex Morales recorded the sixth double-double of the year with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman
DeLonnie Hunt chipped in 13 points on the night.
Wagner did not trail throughout the entirety of the contest and once again dominated on the defensive end of the floor, holding the Red Flash to 26.8% (15-56) shooting from the field.
Ford and Morales combined to score Wagner's first 13 points of the contest, as the Seahawks jumped out to a 13-3 lead early on, highlighted by a thunderous alley-oop slam by Ford from Martinez.
Holding the Red Flash to just 3-25 (12%) from the field in the first half, Wagner extended its lead to 27-13 on a three by senior
Nigel Jackson with 2:05 to play in the first half and never looked back.
Saint Francis U cut the deficit to 29-24 with 17:24 to play in the second half, but the Seahawks answered right away, as a three by Hunt and a basket by Martinez quickly extended the lead back to double digits at 34-24 with 16:20 to play.
From there, the Green and White found their rhythm on both ends of the floor and a three by Morales with 5:26 to play gave the Seahawks their biggest lead of the game at 60-39.
Wagner held a 41-36 advantage on the glass and converted on 24-55 (43.6%) of field goal attempts on the night.
The Seahawks and Red Flash will meet again tomorrow for game two of the series, with tip-off scheduled for 4:00 pm at the Spiro Sports Center.
