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Omaha, NE – The regular season Northeast Conference (NEC) champion Wagner men's basketball team, coming off the school's first-ever postseason victory, a 79-74 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) win at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday, fell to Big East member Creighton 87-54 today in a second-round matchup that was televised nationally on ESPN.
 
The eighth-seeded Seahawks, picked sixth in the NEC Preseason Poll back in November and directed by conference coach of the year Bashir Mason, finish the season with an overall record of 23-11, tying for the second-most wins in school history, while the fourth-seeded Blue Jays improve to 20-14 and advance to the NIT quarterfinals at BYU.
 
"An incredible season," Mason said before boarding a Saturday afternoon team flight back to New York. "I think we accomplished a lot. I told the guys that the only thing I'm really sad about is that we're not going to have the opportunity to lace them up tomorrow and play another game"
 
Creighton used its size advantage to its benefit as 7-0, 242-pound senior center Geoffrey Groselle muscled his way for a game-high 18 points on 7-of-7 shooting while grabbing nine rebounds. Zach Hanson, who measures 6-10, 250-pound pounds scored 14 points for the Blue Jays, Khyri Thomas had 13, James Milliken contributed 12 while Maurice Watson Jr. finished with nine points and eight assists.
 
Junior wing Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas / Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]), a Second-Team All-NEC selection, who was also named to the NEC All-Tournament team, paced Wagner with 13 points while redshirt senior guard Dwaun Anderson (Suttons Bay. MI/Suttons Bay) added nine.
 
"They were big, long and they were well-prepared for us," said Mason. "And they made it hard for us to execute."
 
After Wagner jumped out to a 3-2 lead, the Blue Jays scored eight in a row to take a 10-3 lead. Sophomore guard Aaren Edmead (Deer Park, NY/Deer Park) answered with a three-pointer to make it a four-point game, but the Seahawks went nearly eight minutes without another made field goal.
 
Creighton used a 12-3 run during this stretch to push its lead to 22-9 on a three-point play by Hanson with 11:16 left in the half en route to seizing a 46-25 halftime lead.
 
For the game, the Blue Jays held held a 47-28 rebounding edge, shot 56 percent from the field and limited the Seahawks to a season-low 27.9 percent shooting (17-of-61).
 

 
Wagner All-Time in the Postseason
NCAA
March 21, 2003: Pittsburgh 87, Wagner 61 (Boston, MA)
 
NIT
March 19, 2016: Creighton 87, Wagner 54 (Omaha, NE)
March 16, 2016: Wagner 79, St. Bonaventure 74 (Olean, NY)
March 13, 2002: Richmond 67, Wagner 64 (OT) (Richmond, VA)
March 7, 1979: Old Dominion 83, Wagner 81 (Norfolk, VA)