Feb. 10, 2007

Final Stats

FAIRFIELD, CT - Junior Joey Henley (Kent, WA) scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Brice Brooks (Silverdale, WA) had ten points and seven boards to lead the Sacred Heart University men's basketball team to an 81-79 victory over visiting Wagner College in a Northeast Conference game Saturday afternoon in front of a record crowd of 1,894.

Sacred Heart, 12-12 overall and 8-5 in the NEC, opened up an 11-point lead with 6:42 left in the first half on a layup by freshman Chauncey Hardy (Middletown, CT). However, Wagner outscored the Pioneers 17-6 in the final six minutes to send the teams into intermission deadlocked at 38-38. Matt Vitale hit a pair of threes for the Seahawks in the final three minutes, and Justin Drummond drained another with 1:44 left to tie the score.

Wagner, 9-15 overall and 6-7 in the NEC, took its first lead of the game just over a minute into the second half on a pair of free throws by James Ulrich. Sophomore Liam Potter (Lincolnshire, UK) answered quickly for the Pioneers with a three-point play to give his team the lead back.

The Seahawks got their biggest lead of the game at 51-47 on back-to-back Ulrich jumpers with 15:03 left in the game. The Pioneers turned it around with a 14-5 run to take a 61-57 lead with 10:56 to go, thanks to a pair of buckets each for Henley and Hardy.

A Mark Porter jumper with 4:38 to play had Wagner with one at 73-72, but a couple of free throws from senior Tavio Hobson (Seattle, WA) helped SHU widen the lead again. A Porter trey with 2:03 left on the clock again put the Seahawks within a point at 77-76. Henley was fouled on the next Pioneer trip down the floor and made one of two to make it 78-76.

A block by junior guard Drew Shubik with 1:08 left on a Jamal Smith layup attempt kept the Pioneers in the lead and Hobson converted a layup at the other end with :31 left to put SHU up 80-76. Henley had a blocked shot on a Porter layup attempt with :23 left, but Ulrich tapped in the rebound to cut the gap to two again.

Henley was fouled with :15 left and missed both free throws to keep the Wagner hopes alive, however Porter turned the ball over to give it back to the Pioneers with :05 left. He fouled Hobson, who made one of two.

TJ Czeski took the inbound pass and raced up the court, but was fouled by Hobson with less than a second left before he could launch a three-pointer. Given two free throws, Czeski made the first and missed the second intentionally. The ball caromed off the rim and was grabbed by Vitale, who couldn't get a shot off to preserve the SHU victory.

Porter led all scorers in the game with 22 points. Smith and Ulrich finished with 17 each.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Pioneers, who have not lost more than two straight all season. It also matched the school's Division-I high for victories in a season and NEC wins.