Men's Basketball Falls At Wagner, 77-68
3/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – DeMario Anderson (Oxon Hill, Md.) scored 27 points, but the Quinnipiac men's basketball team fell at Wagner, 77-68. The loss, combined with a Mount St. Mary's win against Monmouth, means the Bobcats will take the No. 5 seed and the accompanying trip to Emmitsburg, Md. for the NEC Tournament Quarterfinals.
The loss drops Quinnipiac to 15-14 (11-7 NEC) while the Seahawks earned their school-record 22nd win to just seven losses (15-3 NEC), and take the No. 2 seed in the NEC Tournament.
Anderson added five rebounds and four assists to his line, while Justin Rutty (Newburgh, N.Y.) scored 11 and Evann Baker (Washington, D.C.) added 10. Mark Porter scored a team-high 24 points for Wagner, while made it a double-double with 10 assists. Durell Vinson also had a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds. James Ulrich rounded out the double-figures scorers with 13 points.
The Seahawks sprinted out to a 9-2 lead, making their first four shots. The lead extended to 13 on Mark Porter's three at the 11:56 mark. Quinnipiac cut to within seven at the 6:06 mark on a bucket by Justin Rutty (Newburgh, N.Y.), but it was as close as they'd get. Wagner took its largest lead of the half, 14 points, on Jamal Smith's three at the 2:03 mark. The Seahawks took a 39-27 lead into the locker room.
Vinson finished as the half's leading scorer with 12 points while Anderson tied the NEC record for consecutive games scoring in double-digits (47 games) with 10 first-half points. Vinson added six rebounds while Mark Porter had a very productive half with eight points and seven assists. For the half, Wagner shot 56.0 percent (14-25) to Quinnipiac's 38.5 percent (10-26).
The Seahawks immediately upped the lead to 16 with four straight Vinson points to open the second half. But Quinnipiac whittled away at the lead for most of the second period, cutting the deficit to two on three occasions. All three times, Wagner responded with a two-point bucket on its next possession.
The Seahawks outshot the Bobcats, 54.0 percent (27-50) to 43.1 percent (25-58). The Bobcats took a 34-30 edge in rebounding.
