Brooklyn Heights, NY – Behind 17 second half points by graduate student
Alex Morales, the Wagner men's basketball team earned a gritty 72-69 victory at St. Francis Brooklyn for the Seahawks' 11
th straight win on Sunday.
Wagner stays unbeaten at 10-0 in Northeast Conference (NEC) play, improves to 14-2 overall and remains tied for the third-longest active winning streak in Division I men's basketball.
The 11
th straight victory also sets the record for the longest winning streak for a Wagner team under head coach
Bashir Mason and is the longest winning streak at Wagner since the 1978-79 season.
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).
On Sunday, Morales led all scorers with 21 points on 7-11 shooting, while recording 17 of his points in the second half. Freshman
Zaire Williams added 13 points, all of which came in the first half, while graduate student
Elijah Ford was the third Seahawk in double figures with 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
After the Seahawks took a 37-31 lead into the halftime locker room, a jumper by Ford extended the lead to 44-37 with 15:52 to play.
Following a 5-0 run by the Terriers that cut the Wagner lead to just two points, Morales scored Wagner's next nine points, including a three from the left corner with 10:23 to play that made it a 53-49 game.
Two minutes later, the reigning NEC Player of the Year extended the lead to 58-51 with a traditional three-point play.
St. Francis Brooklyn fought back to make it a one-possession game, but a clutch basket by redshirt-senior
Raekwon Rogers with 2:09 to play gave the Seahawks a 67-62 lead on their way to the win.
Wagner held a 17-11 advantage in bench points, 34-30 lead in points in the paint while out-rebounding the Terriers 35-33.
Next up, Wagner will travel to Central Connecticut on Thursday, February 3, at 7:00 pm.
