Fairfield, CT – The Wagner College men's basketball team earned a 60-57 victory over #3 Sacred Heart in the Northeast Conference (NEC) quarterfinal on Wednesday night. In a game that was a one-possession game for the final 11:13 minutes of the second half, the Green and White prevailed late in dramatic fashion.
With the victory, the Seahawks advance to the NEC semifinal and will travel to #1 CCSU on Saturday at 2:00 pm.
Wednesday's victory marked the first NEC Tournament victory for head coach
Donald Copeland. Wagner was the lone road team to earn a victory in Wednesday's quarterfinal action.
One year after falling at Sacred Heart in the quarterfinal round, Wagner took a one-point lead on a clutch layup by junior
Tahron Allen with 46 seconds remaining, before a pair of free throws by junior
Melvin Council Jr. with 17 seconds left made it a three-point game. A last-second shot attempt by the Pioneers fell short, giving the Seahawks the victory.
One minute earlier, Council came up with a huge rejection on the defensive end to keep the game within a point.
Allen led Wagner with 22 points on 10-20 shooting, while junior
Tyje Kelton added 12 points off the bench. Junior
Javier Ezquerra was the third Seahawk in double figures with 10 points. Council led the Green and White with nine rebounds on the night.
The Seahawks used the three-pointer to establish an early lead, connecting on 7-13 attempts from long range in the first half. Sophomore
Julian Brown scored the first six points of the game and a three by Allen gave Wagner a 13-5 advantage seven minutes into the contest.
The Pioneers cut the Wagner lead to 35-31 at the half, setting up the epic finish. The Seahawks led for 35:03 minutes during the contest and shot 25-57 (43.9%) from the field while holding Sacred Heart to 21-50 (42%) shooting.
Saturday's semifinal between the Seahawks and Blue Devils will air on NECFrontRow and ESPN+.
