If not for the green road uniforms Wagner wore, it would have been difficult to identify the home team at the WRAC in downtown Brooklyn Thursday night.
Shooting a high percentage, taking advantage of transition opportunities, playing at a high tempo and lighting up the scoreboard like a Christmas tree, Wagner looked more like LIU than LIU.
The result was a commanding 86-75 victory and the end of the Blackbirds’ 31-game win streak at the WRAC.
“It’s definitely a stepping stone for us,” junior guard Latif Rivers said after Wagner made nine of its 10 3-point attempts and shot 59 percent from the field in snapping a four-game losing streak to LIU, the two-time defending Northeast Conference champion. “Since I’ve been here, we haven’t beaten them. To be able to come in and beat a good team who is really good at home, its definitely big for us.”
Wagner remained unbeaten in the NEC, tied with Bryant atop the league at 3-0. With the impressive victory, the Seahawks have won fourth straight and seven of eight games despite the absence of key players sprinkled in each contest.
“We got some guys who have same toughness about them in big moments,” Wagner coach Bashir Mason said.
Wagner (9-5, 3-0 NEC) ripped off a 22-6 run to close the first half and never looked back. Point guard Kenny Ortiz, continuing his lights-out shooting of late, had 19 points, 11 assists and four steals. Sophomore forward Mario Moody got the better of all-NEC performer Jamal Olasewere, to the tune of 19 points and nine rebounds.
Rivers poured in a game-high 20 points in his finest performance yet in what has been an injury-riddled season.
Ortiz hasn’t missed any time, and has begun to emerge on the offensive end. Last Thursday in a win over Monmouth, the junior made his first 3-pointer, then hit both of his attempts from beyond the arc Saturday against FDU and each of his two tries last night.
“It just opens up the game more, it’s something I’ve been working on,” Ortiz said. “Hopefully I can keep it going. It’s just confidence. I’ve been getting more confident in my jump shot. The more I make it, the more confident I get.”
Thursday, leading scorer Jonathon Williams wasn’t available because of injury. Rivers replaced Williams’ production with the best game of his junior season. He sank all four of his 3-point attempts and seemed comfortable after a shaky performance against FDU.
LIU (5-10, 0-3) was within striking distance much of the second half despite falling behind by 15 points, but when Olasewere (16 points) fouled out by earning a technical after arguing a foul call, the Blackbirds didn’t have the horses for one final push.
“I thought we lost our poise,” LIU coach Jack Perri said. “We have some temperamental guys and they haven’t had a lot of adversity the last few years. … Jamal’s got to be smarter, he has to be better, he has to figure it out.”