The Sacred Heart University Pioneers men’s basketball team was absolutely dominated by Northeast Conference foe, the Wagner College Seahawks (Staten Island, NY), 73-54, Wednesday night at the William H. Pitt Center in Fairfield. CT.
Shane Gibson averages 20.7 ppg to lead the NEC. The Pioneers needed two of him tonight. (Photo courtesy of sacredheartpioneers.com)
Storyline
Sacred Heart (10-12, 4-5 NEC) shot poorly from wire -to-wire and was fatally reckless with the ball. Wagner (16-4, 7-2 NEC) rode the hot hands of their sharpshooters and the athleticism of their suffocating defense. The Pioneers had a 4-3 lead early on, but the Seahawks ripped off a 15-1 run, never looking back.
Key Stats
Sacred Heart shot 3-20 (15%) from beyond the arc. They came into the evening 1st in the NEC in 3-point percentage (38.1) and 43rd in the nation. This was in sharp contrast to Wagner, who drilled 11-21 (52.4%) of their 3-point attempts. The Pioneers also turned the ball over a ridiculous 19 times, leading to 25 Wagner points.
Players of the Game
SHU
Red-shirt junior guard Shane Gibson (Killingly, CT). The NEC’s leading scorer dropped 20, his 10th 20-point showing in the last 11 games.
WC
Senior guard Tyler Murray (Toronto, Canada). The NEC’s top 3-point shooter scored each of his 21 points from downtown.
Unsung Hero
Sacred Heart red-shirt junior center Nick Greenbacker (Coventry, CT). The Pioneer captain scored 14 points and grabbed 7 rebounds, raising his season averages of 2.9 and 2.0, respectively.
Quote of the Day
“It was a complete team effort, everyone was turning it over. It’s hard to win when you turn it over that many times.”
-Greenbacker
Coach’s Corner
“(Wagner) has nice balance, they did what they had to do. I thought we battled them on the boards, it’s just that you can’t give it away.”
- Sacred Heart Head Coach Dave Bike, who’s 34 years at one institution only trails 1 active coach (Jim Boeheim, Syracuse).
Turning the Other Cheek
“We go hard tomorrow at practice and leave this one at the door. Everyone should get a good night’s rest and be ready to work tomorrow and be ready to take on Mount on Saturday.”
-Gibson
Next
The Pioneers remain home to battle another NEC opponent, Mount St. Mary’s (4-16, 2-7 NEC), on Saturday at 3:30pm.
