The Wagner Seahawks are advancing in the NCAA Tournament, but they couldn’t take it easy in the final minutes of Tuesday night’s game.
Howard missed three straight 3-pointers to tie the game with 10 seconds left, and the Seahawks cruised to a 71-68 victory in the First Four of the tournament at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.
Wagner will play top-seeded North Carolina State on Thursday at 2:45 p.m.
Wagner will be playing in the Round of 64 for the first time in 21 years after being eliminated in the first round in an 87-61 loss to Pittsburgh.
Tuesday night’s win was the first NCAA Tournament win in program history.
Wagner led most of the night, but the Bison made things interesting and cut the Seahawks’ lead to one point with less than 30 seconds left.
Howard cut a 13-point deficit to 67-62 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Marcus Docker and Seth Towns and two free throws by Bryce Harris with 3:10 left in the second half.
Wagner’s Melvin Council Jr. answered with a jumper to give his team some breathing room, but Howard’s Isaiah Warfield hit back-to-back layups with less than 1:30 remaining, and Harris’ layup gave his team 18 remaining. It was a one-point game in seconds. on the clock.
Julian Brown’s two free throws gave Wagner a three-point cushion, and Howard had three chances to tie the game but couldn’t convert the tying bucket.
