Staten Island, NY – The Wagner men's basketball team earned the Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season title and clinched the top seed in the NEC Tournament with a 64-59 victory over Merrimack on Wednesday afternoon.
The Seahawks will take on #4 Mount St. Mary's at the Spiro Sports Center on Saturday, March 6, at 2:00 PM.
Wagner earns its third NEC regular season title under ninth-year head coach
Bashir Mason, who previously led the Green and White to regular season championships in 2015-16 and 2017-18. The Seahawks enter the NEC tournament as a top-2 seed for the fifth time under Mason and have now qualified for the NEC Tournament in ten of the last 11 years, including eight trips under Mason.
After being picked 8
th in the NEC preseason poll and starting the year with a 1-5 record, the Seahawks have now won 12 of their last 13 games to finish the regular season with a 13-6 overall record.
In tonight's game, senior
Elijah Ford led the Seahawks with 21 points and 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Senior
Will Martinez finished with 14 points, while fellow senior
Nigel Jackson was the third Seahawk in double figures with 13 points.
Wagner trailed for more than 25 minutes during the contest, as the Warriors used an 11-0 run to take a 29-18 lead with 3:29 to play in the first half.
Down 31-26 at the half, the Seahawks found their rhythm and took their first lead of the second half with 11:50 to play on a layup by sophomore
Ja'Mier Fletcher that made it 38-37.
After Merrimack took a 41-40 lead with 11:07 to play, an ensuing 9-0 run gave the Seahawks a 49-41 advantage on a pair of free throws by senior
Chase Freeman with 8:57 to play.
Wagner was seemingly in control and held its largest lead of the game on a bucket by Ford with 1:44 to play, giving the Seahawks a 58-49 advantage.
Merrimack, however, fought its way back into the game and came within two points of the lead at 61-59 with 55 seconds to play. With nine seconds to play, the Warriors trailed by three and had a chance to tie the contest, but a steal by freshman
DeLonnie Hunt gave Wagner the ball back. The first-year Seahawk made both free throws with five seconds to play, sealing the win and start the celebrations.
As a team, the Seahawks held a 37-26 rebounding advantage while shooting 21-54 (38.9%) from the field.
