WATCH | Live Stats | Game Notes 

New Britain, CT - The Wagner College men's basketball team will travel to #1 CCSU on Saturday, with tip-off set for 2:00 pm. The game will be carried by ESPN+, YES Network, NESN+ and NEC Front Row.
 
Last Time Out
 
Wagner earned a 60-57 victory over #3 Sacred Heart in the 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.
 
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.

Wagner In The NEC Tournament
 
Wednesday's win over the Pioneers marked Wagner's first-ever postseason win against Sacred Heart and snapped a two-game skid as the #6 seed.
 
The victory also marked the first NEC Tournament victory for head coach Donald Copeland as the Seahawks' head coach. His counterpart on Saturday, Patrick Sellers, also earned his first NEC Tournament victory as the Blue Devils' head coach. Both Sellers and Copeland have been to the NEC Championship game as assistant coaches.
 
The Seahawks are 4-0 all-time against CCSU in the NEC Tournament. The two teams last met in 2018, with Wagner earning a 73-61 win at the Spiro Sports Center in the quarterfinal round.
 
Wagner is 6-12 all-time in the NEC Tournament semifinal and 1-7 against #1 seed. The Seahawks' lone victory against a #1 seed came in the 2005 semifinals against Monmouth, which also marks the last time Wagner appeared in the NEC semifinals as the #6 seed.  
 
Wagner is now 26-34 all-time in the NEC Tournament. This marks Wagner's 35^th NEC Tournament appearance.
 
The Seahawks hold a 6-9 record overall as the #6 seed, but haven't entered the postseason ranked sixth since 2011.
 
With Wednesday's win, Wagner is now 18-15 all-time in NEC quarterfinal games and has advanced to the semis in nine of the last 13 seasons.  Wagner is 8-21 in the postseason in road and neutral sites.
 
Saturday's game marks the most games Wagner has ever played as a particular seed in the NEC Tournament.
 
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), 2018 (losing to LIU), and 2022 (losing to Bryant).
 
The Season Series
 
Both games between the Seahawks and Blue Devils during the regular season were tightly contested. In New Britain, Wagner fell 69-68 in overtime after being limited to just six players due to injury.
 
On Staten Island, Wagner gained possession with 16 seconds remaining and had a chance to win at the buzzer, but lost 73-72.
 
Council Earns All-NEC Honors
 
Junior Melvin Council Jr. was named a First Team All-NEC selection, the league announced on Tuesday.
 
Voted on by the league's head coaches, Council becomes the first Seahawk to earn First Team All-NEC honors since Alex Morales in 2022.
 
The league-leader with 35.82 minutes per game, Council enters the NEC Tournament ranked fourth in the circuit in scoring (15.3 ppg), eighth in rebounding (5.8), sixth in assists (3.61), and third in assist/turnover ratio (2.02).
 
Council has scored 20 or more points on six occasions, including two of the last three regular season games, and scored in double figures in 15 of 16 conference games. The Rochester native recorded four double-doubles throughout the regular season.
 
The first-year Seahawk led the Green and White to a road victory at Saint Francis U on February 15 with the game-winner in overtime as part of a 20-point night.
 
Merrimack's Jordan Derkack earned Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors, while the Warriors' Adam "Budd" Clark was voted Rookie of the Year. CCSU's Patrick Sellers took home Jim Phelan Coach of the Year honors.
 
Joining Council on the NEC First Team are Derkack, CCSU's Allan Jeanne-Rose, FDU's Ansley Almonor, and Le Moyne's Kaiyem Cleary.
 
The Wagner DNA
 
At 62.8 points per game, Wagner is 9th in the country in scoring defense while also leading the Northeast Conference (NEC).
 
Downtown Staten Island

Defensively, the Seahawks hold teams to 30.1% shooting from long range, good for 16^th in the country.

Offensively, Wagner is 5-2 when connecting on nine or more threes per game. Against Sacred Heart, the Seahawks connected on seven three-pointers in the first half.
 
Ezquerra Closing In On Milestone

Junior Javier Ezquerra is closing in on 250 career assists. The NEC's active leader has 127 assists on the year and 243 for his career.
 
The Key
 
Sophomore forward Keyontae Lewis has scored in double figures in five of Wagner's last seven games. He has shot 50 percent or better from the field in 13-of-16 NEC regular season games this season and ranked first in the league in field goal accuracy in conference play at 60.9 percent.
 
Taking Care Of The Ball

Wagner's 10.1 turnovers per game are 37th in the country and first in the NEC. As a team Wagner's assist/turnover ratio of 1.31 leads the NEC. Individually, the Seahawks have two of the top three players in the NEC in assist/turnover ratio in junior Javier Ezquerra (2nd / 2.08) and Council (3rd / 2.02).
 
Scouting The Blue Devils
 
The top-seeded Blue Devils held off a second-half charge by No. 8 Saint Francis U and scored a 71-62 win on Wednesday night in the NEC quarterfinals. CCSU is now 20-10 on the season.

Student Fan Bus
 
We will be sending a fan bus for students to sign up for! Sign ups will be available until 3/8 at 12pm, so sign up by clicking the form here! 
 
Next Up
 
The winner of Wednesday's matchup advances to the NEC championship game on Tuesday. If Le Moyne earns a victory in Saturday's earlier semifinal between the Dolphins and Merrimack, the winner of the Wagner – CCSU matchup earns the NEC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.