Wagner wasn’t about to let it happen again.
As the second seed in the Northeast Conference tournament, the Seahawks were matched up in the quarterfinals last night with No. 7 Central Connecticut State — the team that ended Wagner’s nine-game winning streak on Saturday.
In hoping to add to a school-record 24 wins and advance one game closer to an NCAA tournament berth, Wagner couldn’t consider any lead safe, even when ahead by 18 in the second half.
“Step on the neck!” Wagner coach Dan Hurley yelled from the sidelines of the Spiro Sports Center. “Step on the neck!”
With unyielding offensive aggression that produced five double-figure scorers, and persistent defensive pressure, Wagner won its first tournament game in four years with an 87-77 victory over Central Connecticut in Staten Island.
The Seahawks host No. 3 Robert Morris in the semifinals at noon on Sunday. Wagner (25-5) won the only meeting between the teams this season, 80-69, on Feb. 2.
“I think we had great focus and I think we treated every possession like it was significant,” Hurley, the second-year coach, said. “Late in the season, I think we got away from that a bit. The players understood what was at stake tonight and they showed what they are capable of.”
Wagner led 78-58 with 6:38 left and never took its foot off the pedal, though it did slip.
Using a series of traps, the Blue Devils (13-16) cut the deficit to 82-77 after a Shelton Mickell 3-pointer with 1:17 remaining. Wagner senior Tyler Murray then sealed the win with the next four points, capped by a block on a 3-point try by CCSU’s Ken Horton (25 points, nine rebounds) and a resulting layup with 45 seconds left.
“Tonight showed how much we’ve matured as a team,” Hurley said. “In some games you’re playing, the other team makes a run, you get nervous, but there was no point in the game where I felt like we were threatened in losing the momentum of how we were playing. I thought we controlled the game from beginning to end.”
Though center Naofall Folahan picked up two fouls in the game’s first two minutes, freshman Mario Moody filled in down low with 10 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
The backcourt of Kenneth Ortiz, who led Wagner with 16 points and six assists, and Latif Rivers, who added 15 points and six rebounds, set the tone by penetrating without much resistance, leading to a 44-20 advantage in points in the paint and a 40-32 halftime lead.
“We’re relentless,” Hurley said. “We play hard. We go after it. The kids aren’t afraid to make mistakes or be aggressive and we’re not going to change it now.”
Murray, who as a sophomore was part of a team that tied a school-record with 26 losses, is now two games from a dream that once never seemed possible.
“Once he got here, Coach told [us], no matter what happens in the time we have left, his one goal is to try and bring us to the tournament,” Murray said. “He put us in this position and it’s time for us to produce again.”
