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Staten Island, NY – The Wagner College men's basketball team will enter the Northeast Conference (NEC) tournament on Wednesday, when the #2-seeded Seahawks take on #7 Saint Francis U at 7:00 pm at the Spiro Sports Center.
Wagner In The NEC Tournament
This marks Wagner's seventh time as the #2 seed in the NEC Tournament, third under head coach
Bashir Mason, and first since 2014. The Seahawks and Red Flash will meet in the postseason for the third time and first time since 2017, with the all-time postseason series tied at 1-1.
The Green and White's lone postseason win over the Red Flash was a 100-86 quarterfinal win in 1986. In 2017, Wagner fell 71-70 on a last-minute three-pointer at the Spiro Sports Center.
Wagner is guaranteed a semifinal home game with a quarterfinal win.
The Seahawks, who have advanced to the semis in six of the last 10 seasons, are in search of the program's second NEC Tournament championship, having won it all back in 2003.
When playing on Staten Island, the Seahawks are 16-13 in NEC Tournament play, including going 12-11 in the Spiro Sports Center (opened February 1999). Wagner is 7-19 in the postseason in road and neutral sites.
The Seahawks won their lone NEC championship in 2003, and reached the NEC final in 1993 (losing to Rider), 2005 (losing to FDU), 2016 (losing to FDU), and 2018 (losing to LIU).
Morales named NEC Player of the Year And Defensive Player of the Year
Graduate student
Alex Morales became the fourth player in Northeast Conference (NEC) history to repeat as NEC Player of the Year while also earning Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-NEC honors, the conference announced on Tuesday.
Graduate student
Will Martinez and redshirt-senior
Raekwon Rogers were named to the All-NEC Second Team, while graduate student
Elijah Ford earned Third Team All-NEC honors. Freshman
Zaire Williams rounded out the awards with his selection to the NEC All-Rookie Team.
For the full release, click
here
Wagner – SFU: The Season Series
The Seahawks earned the regular season sweep over the Red Flash. In the first meeting between the two teams, Wagner overcame a double-digit deficit in the first half to earn a 72-64 road victory in the conference opener for both teams.
The Seahawks trailed 20-10 with 12:35 to play in the first half, but used an 11-2 run during the last 3:06 of the first half to take a 31-30 lead on a three by graduate student
Elijah Ford with time expiring in the period.
Coming out of the locker room, Wagner went on a 16-3 run to quickly take a 48-35 lead on a layup by graduate student
Alex Morales with 13:29 to play. Graduate student
Will Martinez proved to be the catalyst during early in the second half, scoring eight points in the first eight minutes of the second half in helping the Seahawks build their lead.
On January 27, Wagner earned its 10
th straight victory with a 69-54 win over SFU at the Spiro Sports Center.
After the Red Flash took a 14-8 lead with 12:13 to play in the first half, Wagner quickly took control of the game, taking the lead on a three by freshman
Zaire Williams with 6:29 to play as part of a 9-0 Wagner run that was capped off by a Morales bucket to extend the lead to 24-19 with 4:52 to play in the first half.
Another 9-0 run in the final three minutes extended the lead to double digits, with the Seahawks leading 35-23 at the midway mark. In the second half, Wagner further extended its lead, as a Hunt three with 13:06 to play made it 52-32, getting the fans at the Spiro Sports Center out of their seats.
Making History
Wagner's 15 conference wins matches the most in program history. The Seahawks went 15-5 in 2001-02, along with 15-3 in 2007-08 and 2011-12.
Earlier this season, Wagner's 14 consecutive wins set the record for the longest winning streak for a Seahawk team under head coach
Bashir Mason and was the longest winning streak for a Wagner squad since winning 16 straight during the 1978-79 season under P.J. Carlesimo.
Wagner's 13-0 start in NEC play fell two short of the NEC standard set by 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.
The last conference school to rattle off 13 straight NEC wins was LIU. The Sharks won 13 in a row in 2010-11, a stretch that included three NEC Tournament wins.
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.
Scouting The Red Flash
After missing out last year, Saint Francis U returns to the NEC playoffs for the eighth time in nine seasons. Head coach Rob Krimmel is 5-2 in quarterfinal appearances and 8-7 overall in NEC Tournament play as SFU's head coach.
SFU finished the regular season with a 9-20 overall record and 5-13 record in NEC play.
The Schedule
The Winner of Wednesday's game will advance to the NEC Semifinal round, which will be held on Saturday, March 15.
