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Brooklyn Heights, NY – The Wagner College men's basketball team will go for its record-setting 11
th straight victory on Sunday, as the Seahawks travel to St. Francis Brooklyn, with tip-off set for 2:00 pm. The contest was originally scheduled for Jan. 29 at 4:00 p.m, but moved to Sunday due to inclement weather.
Winning Ways
The Seahawks have won ten straight games and have started Northeast Conference (NEC) play with an 9-0 record after earning a 69-54 win over Saint Francis U on Thursday night at the Spiro Sports Center.
On Thursday, Wagner improved to 13-2 on the season and 9-0 in Northeast Conference (NEC) play while tying last year's 10-game streak for the longest winning streak at Wagner since the 1978-79 season.
With Thursday's victory, the Seahawks are now also tied for the third-longest active winning streak in NCAA Division I men's basketball, only trailing #1 Auburn (16 straight wins) and Boise State (13 straight wins). Princeton and UNCW have also won 10 straight games.
The NEC record for most consecutive wins to tipoff the conference season belongs to UMBC, which won 15 in a row in 1998-99 before dropping two of its last three games to settle for a 17-3 record.
No NEC team has ever completed the regular season with a perfect record. The only teams to finish with one loss are CCSU (19-1 in 2001-02) and Marist (15-1 in 1986-87).
Wagner In The National Rankings
Wagner checked in at #18 in this week's Mid-Major Top-25 poll, released by collegeinsider.com, up two spots compared to last week.
Wagner remains the lone Northeast Conference (NEC) team to be ranked in the poll.
In the national rankings, Wagner entered the week ranked 77th in the NCAA's NET rankings and 108th in the KenPom rankings, 91 spots ahead of the next-best NEC team.
Entering the week, the Seahawks ranked 15th nationally in field goal percentage (49.0%), 15th in scoring margin (14.3), 17th in steals per game (9.4), 21st in turnovers forced (16.79), 27th in rebounding margin (+6.5), and 42nd in scoring defense (63.2).
Going For The Sweep
In the first meeting between the two teams, Wagner extended its win streak to six games with an 81-76 victory over St. Francis Brooklyn in a hard-fought battle.
After the Terriers cut their deficit to one with 2:05 to play on a three-pointer by Rob Higgins that made it 73-72, Wagner took a two-possession lead on a traditional three-point play by redshirt-senior
Raekwon Rogers, who led all scorers with 22 points on 8-12 shooting.
Rogers hit another layup one minute later to make it 78-74 with 45 seconds to play, while a huge block by graduate student
Elijah Ford on the ensuing position sealed the game for the Seahawks.
Morales Continues To Dominate
Graduate student
Alex Morales of the Wagner College men's basketball team was named Co-Player of the Week by the Met Basketball Writers Association as well as the Northeast Conference (NEC) on Monday.
Morales shared Met Writers Player of the Week honors with Seton Hall's Myles Cale, while sharing NEC Player of the Week honors with LIU's Ty Flowers. Morales is the first Seahawk to pick up Met Writers Player of the Week honors since Blake Francis won the award in January 2018.
Last Friday, Morales led Wagner to a thrilling 92-85 overtime victory at LIU. Morales finished with 35 points, 12 rebounds, four steals, and three assists, becoming the first Division I player since 2018 and just the fourth over the last decade with at least 35 points, 12 boards, 3 assists, and 4 steals in a game. The Paterson, NJ native scored 12 of his 35 points in the overtime period.
Two days later, Morales contributed 12 points, six rebounds, two assists, and two steals in a 71-57 victory over Merrimack.
The reigning NEC Player of the Year is the first player this season to win four NEC Player of the Week awards.
Morales ranks in the NEC top-7 in scoring (17.3, fourth), rebounding (7.5, fourth), assists (3.8, third), steals (2.1, second), 3P percentage (.406, seventh), FG percentage (.556, sixth), FT percentage (.806, fourth) and A/TO ratio (1.5, fifth).
The award, which is presented annually to the top mid-major player in division I college basketball, honors the former Illinois and New Mexico State head coach who won 775 games in 41 seasons. Morales is the only Northeast Conference (NEC) player featured on the list.
Scouting The Terriers
Since the last meeting between the two teams, the Terriers are 2-2, including a 71-66 victory over Sacred Heart on Thursday night. St. Francis Brooklyn is 6-14 overall and 3-6 in NEC play on the season.
Mason's Milestone Victories
Wagner's win over Fairleigh Dickinson marked the 100th career victory in conference play for head coach
Bashir Mason, who became the 11th coach in NEC history to reach the century mark.
Earlier this season, Mason earned his 150th overall victory against Fairfield. 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
Mason was named to the Athletic's "40 Under 40 – Rising Stars In Men's College Basketball" list.
According to the article, which features Mason at #15, Mason "has established himself as one of the top mid-major coaches in America."
Last season, Mason entered elite territory, becoming just the second coach in the conference's 40-year history to win three Jim Phelan Coach of the Year honors, joining NEC Hall of Fame coach Howie Dickenman, who earned the distinction four times in his storied career at CCSU.
Following the 2020-21 season, Mason was also a finalist for the 2020-21 Hugh Durham Award, which is presented annually to the top Division I mid-major coach in college basketball.
Wagner's head coach was also a finalist for the Ben Jobe award, which is presented annually to the top Division I minority coach.
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 and is the fastest coach to win 100 games in Seahawk history.
The Schedule
Following Saturday's game, Wagner will travel to Central Connecticut on February 3, with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 pm.
