The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team let another late lead slip away as they fell to Wagner Thursday night, 61-57, at the Spiro Sports Center in Staten Island, NY. With the victory, the Seahawks improve to 11-11 (7-4 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 4-18 (2-9 NEC) overall.
With the score tied at 55, senior Mike Scott (Philadelphia, PA/Texas Christian) hit a tough baseline fade away to give the Knights a 57-55 lead with a 1:46 to go in the game.
Wagner had a chance to tie the game with 59 seconds left but only converted 1-of-2 free throws, giving the Knights an opportunity to extend their 57-56 lead.
With 37 seconds left, Wagner's Tyler Murray stole the ball from senior Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep) and found Latif Rivers, who converted a layup while being fouled. He then knocked down the free throw go give the Seahawks a 59-57 lead, their first since the first half.
The Knights then took a 30-second timeout to regroup with 33 ticks left on the clock. Out of the timeout, Scott found himself on a 2-on-1 fast-break and delivered a pass to freshman Ayotunde Oyeniyi (Lagos, Nigeria/The Rock School (FL)), who was called for traveling under the Knights' basket.
After being fouled, Murray knocked down two more free throws to give the Seahawks a 61-57 lead with 23 seconds left.
The Knights came down and had three opportunities to make shots, but their 21st turnover of the game occurred on a steal with almost no time on the clock, allowing Wagner to escape with the 61-57 victory.
Senior Kamil Svrdlik (Prerov, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Zlin) led the Knights with 18 points, while knocking down career-best 10 free throws (on 11 attempts). He also added six rebounds and a game-high three blocks. Scott added 13 points, eight rebounds and a game-high seven assists. Grier chipped in 12 points, while senior John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
Grier scored the first six points of the game for the Knights, and Oyeniyi's tip-back gave the Knights an early 15-9 lead.
Wagner then used an 8-1 run to take its first lead of the game, 17-16, with 10:47 remaining in the half.
Down 24-22, the Knights scored seven unanswered points as Svrdlik's old-fashion three-point play gave the Knights a 29-24 lead.
Over the final 3:55 of the first half, the Knights outscored the Seahawks by two and took a 34-27 lead into halftime.
The Knights took advantage of the free throw line as they nailed 12-of-15, and Svrdlik nailed 8-of-9. The Seahawks, only made 3-of-6.
FDU also shot a respectable 42.5 percent (10-of-23) from the floor and held Wagner to 32.4 percent (11-of-34). The Knights also dominated the boards, 23-14.
Coming out of halftime, the Knights extended the lead to nine on two different occasions. After Wagner cut the lead to 40-36, Scott delivered a trey ball with the shot clock winding down to put the Knights back up seven with 13:36 left in the game.
The Knights still led by six points before the Seahawks scored five straight to cut the lead to 47-46 with 10:03 remaining.
FDU was able to extend the lead back out to no bigger than four points. With 4:35 left, Grier hit a tough layup and was fouled, giving the Knights a 54-50 lead, but was unable to convert the free throw for the old-fashioned three-point play.
Sophomore DeShawn Dockery (Chicago, IL/Worcester Academy) hit 1-of-2 free throws to give the Knights a 55-52 lead before Rivers tied the game on a three-point play with 2:09 remaining, setting up the dramatic finish.
The Knights shot only 9-of-27 in the second half to finish the game shooting 38.0 percent. Wagner finished the game 35.9 percent.
The Knights dominated the glass, 45-32, but one of the biggest differences in the game was turnovers as the Knights turned the ball over 21 times, while the Seahawks only turned it over eight times. Wagner scored 26 points off turnovers, including 16 in the second half.
Murray led all scorers with 20 points. Josh Thompson and Rivers each added 11 (with Rivers points all in the second half). Naofall Folahan chipped in 10 points.
The Knights have a quick turnaround as they travel to Emmitsburg, MD to take on Mount St. Mary's on Saturday, Feb. 5. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
