CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Small Wagner College’s magic carpet ended Thursday with a 90-62 loss to powerhouse North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Spectrum Center.
Despite a depleted roster with just seven healthy players, Wagner made it to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in school history, an improbable turn of events, but essentially at the Tar Heels’ home. It wasn’t enough to defeat top-seeded North Carolina in the game.
Wagner won every road game in the conference tournament and had advanced to this stage by defeating Howard in Tuesday’s “First Four” game in Dayton, Ohio.
As expected, it wasn’t going to be easy for the Seahawks considering the toughness that Wagner has shown this season as the 16th seed trails by 24.5 points.
The final score wasn’t indicative of how close Wagner kept the match – at least within firing range.
The Seahawks, who finished the season with a 17-16 record, were within 60-48 midway through the second half, but North Carolina added depth and Wagner ended the game on a 30-13 run while seemingly running out of steam on defense. Ta.
With 13 minutes and 50 seconds left in the first half, Julian Brown’s 3-pointer tied the game at 13-13. Brown added another goal a minute later, tying the score at 15-15.
North Carolina, now 28-7, scored the next seven points to take a 22-15 lead and pull away from there, but it was too good, too talented, and most importantly, for Wagner. The layers were too thick.
At the 7:26 television timeout, the Tar Heels held a 31-21 lead, their largest lead of the first half, outscoring Wagner 16-7 and shooting 64.7 percent from the field. Ta. He outscored Wagner 20-8 in points in the paint, compared to Wagner’s 34.8 percent.
The Tar Heels took their largest lead of the first half at 40-26 on Cormac Ryan’s killer 3-pointer with 1:52 left before intermission.
Keyonnae Lewis made the Seahawks’ final basket of the second half with 20 seconds left, making it 40-28 at halftime.
Melvin Council Jr., Wagner’s top player and the star of the win over Howard, struggled to make shots in the first half, making only 3 of 13 from the field, but still took the lead. The Seahawks scored 10 points in the first 20 minutes.
He scored 18 points on 6 of 20 shots.
The Council junior played all 40 minutes against Howard and had 21 points, five rebounds and seven assists.
According to OptaSTATS, he became the first player since 1984 to shoot at least 50 percent from the field, commit no fouls, and record at least 20 points, at least five rebounds, and at least five assists.
He just couldn’t find the same mojo against the Tar Heels, who were taller, more athletic and deeper than he was.
Allen, a sophomore at Wagner, scored 15 points on 3-of-4 3-pointers against Howard.
He scored eight points in the first half against UNC, but was in foul trouble for three points in the first half and finished with 18 points Thursday.
In the end, Wagner had no answer for North Carolina big man Armando Bacot, who had 14 points and 11 rebounds in the first half alone. Bacot had 20 points and 15 rebounds.
RJ Davis got hot in the second half and led all scorers with 22 points.
Charlotte native Jaylin Withers came off the bench and put up 10 points and 5 rebounds in the first half, making it hard for Wagner. The Wizards shut down Wagner inside, going 6-of-9 from the foul line.
The Wizards finished with 16 points and made as many free throws in the first half as Wagner made as a team.
Perfectly illustrating Wagner’s matchup, he was outscored 43-24 in the game and was outscored 26-6 by North Carolina’s bench.
