Northeast Conference Championship Recap
Wagner’s miraculous run to the big dance finally hit a road block Wednesday night in New Jersey. On its home court, Fairleigh Dickinson knocked off the Seahawks 58-52 in the NEC tournament final and earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Andrea Crosariol had 18 points to pace the Knights to their first NCAA appearance since 1998.
The Knights fell behind by four early but used a 14-2 run to take control of the game. They led by as many as eight on two occasions in the first half. Wagner fought back and trailed 28-24 at the break despite shooting 28 percent from the field.
The Seahawks cut the lead to two early in the second half but could get no closer. FDU pushed the lead to 11 at the midpoint of the second half, but Wagner had one more run in them and cut the lead to two with just over a minute remaining. The lead was three with 23 seconds to go when Mensah Peterson hit a backbreaking three with two seconds on the shot clock to push the lead back up to six and seal the game.
Wagner was able to dictate the pace of play but couldn’t quite recover from a poor shooting first half. Mark Porter reached double figures for the third straight game with 10 points but shot only 2-12 from the field. Durell Vinson led the Seahawks with 14 points Second team All-NEC performer and Wagner’s leading scorer Sean Munson scored only eight points on 2-12 shooting. In addition to Crosariol, Chad Timberlake and Mensah Peterson scored double figures for the Knights. The Knights won despite a 3-16 shooting performance from Gordon Klaiber, a first team All-NEC selection, and only four points from Tamien Trent, a second team All-NEC selection.
Trent was named MVP of the tournament based on a 20-point, 10-rebound effort in the quarterfinals against St. Francis NY and 18 points against Long Island in the semis. The Knight’s Crosariol and Klaiber joined Trent on the all-tournament team along with Mark Porter from Wagner and Blake Hamilton of Monmouth.
