March 6, 2008

Final Stats

Staten Island, NY - Junior swingman Jamal Smith (Baltimore, MD/ Towson Catholic) drained a three-point jumper with 1:41 left to play Thursday night to give Wagner a 61-58 lead as the Seahawks survived a major scare by LIU before holding off the Blackbirds, 71-62, in advancing to the NEC semifinals.

Wagner added to its school-record win total in improving to 23-7 on the season. LIU finishes its season at .500 with a mark of 15-15.

The Seahawks will play host to No. 3 seed Sacred Heart (17-13) on Sunday at 7:00 pm in an NEC semifinal match-up. The winner of this contest plays for the NEC Championship by meeting the winner of Sunday's Robert Morris- Mount St. Mary's game. Top-seeded Robert Morris (26-6) out-lasted No. 8 Monmouth 64-50 and will host a Mount St. Mary's (16-14) team that knocked off Quinnipiac 80-70.

The NEC Championship game will take place on the home court of the highest-remaining seed on Wed.., March 12. Tip-off is set for 7:00 pm and the game will be televised to a national audience on ESPN 2.

Following the Smith three-pointer, which answered a three-pointer by LIU's Jaytornah Wisseh that had tied the game at 58-58 with 1:53 left, senior forward Durell Vinson (Vineland, NJ/ St. Augustine Prep) blocked two shots, rebounded a missed three-point jumper by Eugene Kotorobai and then beat everyone down the floor, hitting a lay-up on the other end with 57.5 seconds left. Senior guard Mark Porter (Atlantic City, NJ/ St. Augustine Prep) then hit two free throws with 40.4 seconds left to put the Seahawks up 65-58 and cap a 7-0 run that sealed the victory before a spirited crowd at the Spiro Sports Center.

"Being an upperclassmen, Jamal Smith made that shot. I think if he misses that shot, we rebound and score, and think that's our game," said LIU head coach Jim Ferry. "I thought that was really a big swing.

"I thought Jaytonah and Kellen did a tremendous job bringing us back down the stretch. But you miss a shot, here or there and it's tough. It was a just a tough, hard-fought game. I thought we missed a lot of lay-ups early in the game.

"I was happy as heck at halftime," Ferry added. "We couldn't throw it in the ocean, we missed 30 shots. I said, `Guys, we're only down 13. If we just guard, we're going to get back into it. We talked early in the week about making our lay-ups and free throws and early in the game we missed some lay-ups and some wide open looks."

Porter made 6-8 free throws in the final minute to finish with a team-high 21 points. He narrowly missed recording a triple-double, finishing with 10 rebounds and nine assists. Vinson recorded his NEC-leading 14th double-double of the season, totaling 14 points and 15 rebounds. It was also his 28th career double-double which is also tops among active NEC players. He also blocked five shots which tied his career high.

Smith and senior forward James Ulrich (Mt. Laurel, NJ/ Camden Catholic) scored 14 points apiece.LIU was able to keep the game close throughout the balance of the second half by forcing 10 second-half turnovers and hitting 14 of 19 from the free throw line while Wagner got to the line 17 times, making 11.

"That's a team that matches up well against us. We've had three tough games with them. We did a better job rebounding tonight although they still got 18 offensive rebounds," said Wagner head coach Mike Deane. "We did a good job in our halfcourt defense and give Wisseh some credit, he made some big plays down the stretch to get them back in. I think Mark (Porter) was a little tired and he has every right to be a little tired.

"On the other end, he gave another MVP-like performance in my opinion," Deane continued. "He's done it all year long and he's one assist away from a triple-double, that's a pretty good night...there aren't to many players better in the last five minutes of close games. Having said that, obviously the biggest shot of the game was Smitty's (Smith) three-pointer after the tied. It gave us a little surge and put us back in control.

"Durell hen made a tremendous defensive play, two blocks back-to-back and then hits the lay-up," he added.

Wisseh, a sophomore guard from Brooklyn, led LIU with a game-high 22 points. His three-pointer that tied the score 58-58 capped a 15-5 LIU run that included seven made free throws in 10 attempts.

Wagner out-shot LIU 48%-29% and won the rebounding battle, 47-44.

Wagner played a crisp first half in racing out to 35-22 lead at intermission led by a stifling defensive effort that limited the Blackbirds to 10-40 shooting (25%). Porter paced Wagner with an efficient first-half performance, totaling 11 points, five rebounds and three assists and did not commit a single turnover while playing all 20 minutes.

Smith chipped in with nine first-half points while Vinson was active in the low post, tallying eight first-half points while pulling down eight rebounds.