Bashir Mason grew more and more annoyed. The Wagner coach had seen enough of Blake Francis, considering the young southpaw wasn’t the recruit Mason came to see play on the Baltimore Elite AAU team last year.
“Blake was shooting the ball pretty much every time he got it,” Mason said. “I kept saying to one of our assistants, ‘This kid just keeps shooting. He’s not letting us see what the kid we want can do.’ ”
Possession after possession, Francis stood in the way — until he stood out.
“After three or four days of watching him, we couldn’t wait to see the kid play,” Mason said. “He was scoring the ball every which way possible on a really high-level AAU team.”
Now, the 6-foot-1 guard has unexpectedly seized the spotlight again.
After averaging just 7.2 points as a reserve in his freshman season, Francis ranks second in the Northeast Conference with 19.6 points per game, and has scored at least 17 points in every game. He is shooting 43.1 percent on 3-pointers and averaging 1.8 steals, while ranking 12th in the nation in free throw percentage (94.1).
Behind Francis — who has twice made last-second, game-winning free throws — the Seahawks (7-1) have gotten off to their best start since P.J. Carlesimo’s 1979-80 squad, while averaging their most points (76) since the school’s last NCAA Tournament team (2003) and ranking 20th in the nation in field-goal percentage allowed (37.9).
It wasn’t supposed to be this way after Wagner lost four starters from last season, including leading scorer Corey Henson, who transferred to Nevada in August. The hazy outlook only appeared worse when key senior Romone Saunders suffered an injury in the preseason, which has kept him from playing thus far.
But while the eyes were on others, Francis shifted the focus once more.
“We all heard the talk, and he probably heard it louder because he’s more in tune with these things, that people said when Corey Henson was transferring, ‘Wagner would probably be dead in the water without him,’ and Blake came to me, and he was not happy about that,” Mason said. “One of his things going into this year was he was going to make people eat their words.
“He’s playing with a lot of confidence. He’s out there playing free. There’s something to be said for a player when you know your number’s getting called and the team’s relying you in certain ways. As a player and competitor, there’s that not wanting to let your team down, and he’s really stepped up to that challenge.”
Though Francis helped lead his high school in Northern Virginia to a state championship, a scholarship offer hadn’t surfaced. Towson, Tulsa and Arkansas State were interested, but not enough to make a commitment.
Francis was set to attend prep school until taking an unofficial visit to Staten Island last summer. There, the guard was told a scholarship had suddenly become available, and he could join Wagner’s team immediately.
“It caught me off guard,” Francis said. “I came to visit, expecting to just look at the school and get a feel for it and they said a scholarship just opened for my class, so I was kind of surprised by that.”
Preparing for his second year was simpler, but Francis still wasn’t sure what the season would look like.
“We all didn’t really know what to expect with a new team,” said Francis, whose team opens conference play at home against Mount St. Mary’s on Dec. 29. “To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be scoring this much. My role has definitely changed. Coach told me I need to be a more aggressive player on the offensive side and that’s what I’ve been trying to do.
“I was playing behind a lot of veteran guys, and now I’ve got more confidence to make plays for myself. I know I can freelance to do so. The main thing is just confidence.”
With Francis, Mason believes he has the most talented offensive team of his six-year tenure. It’s a team the coach believes can become the most accomplished the school has seen in many years.
“There’s the belief that we can win the league again,” said Mason, whose team won the regular-season title two seasons ago. “I think these guys know from playing good ball that we can make it to the championship game and give ourselves a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament.”
Games of the Week
Seton Hall at Rutgers (Saturday, Noon)
With both teams off to fast starts, the Garden State Hardwood Classic could live up to its name, at a sold-out RAC. The Pirates’ senior class has never lost to the Scarlet Knights, but Rutgers led by nine at halftime of last year’s loss and put a scare into No. 3 Michigan State at home last week.
St. John’s vs. Iona (Sunday, 4:30 p.m.)
The Red Storm will meet the Gaels for the first time since 1995 in what should be an entertaining, up-tempo affair in the Holiday Classic at Madison Square Garden. While St. John’s is off to its best start of Chris Mullin’s coaching tenure, the back-to-back MAAC champs enter with four straight wins.
Hofstra vs. Villanova (Friday, 8:30 p.m.)
After playing Manhattan on Wednesday, the Pride meet the No. 1 team in the country at Nassau Coliseum. This will be Jay Wright’s first game against Hofstra since ending his seven-year tenure at the school with back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances (2000-01). Hofstra hasn’t been back to the Dance since then.
Local Power Poll
1. Seton Hall
Record: 9-1
Up next: Saturday (Noon) at Rutgers
2. St. John’s
Record: 8-2
Up next: Sunday (4:30 p.m.) vs. Iona
3. Rutgers
Record: 9-3
Up next: Saturday (Noon) vs. Seton Hall
4. Iona
Record: 5-4
Up next: Sunday (4:30 p.m.) at St. John’s
5. Hofstra
Record: 7-3
Up next: Wednesday (7 p.m.) vs. Manhattan
6. Army
Record: 6-4
Up next: Sunday (1:30 p.m.) vs. Air Force
7. Manhattan
Record: 4-5
Up next: Saturday (7 p.m.) at Tulsa
8. Monmouth
Record: 3-8
Up next: Friday (7 p.m.) at Yale
9. Wagner
Record: 7-1
Up next: Saturday (4 p.m.) at Rider
10. St. Peter’s
Record: 4-5
Up next: Sunday (Noon) at LIU Brooklyn