Box Score

HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team fell to Wagner on Thursday night at Stratis Arena.  The 94-74 loss drops the Knights (13-13, 9-6 NEC) into a four-way tie for second in the NEC, while Wagner (17-9, 10-5 NEC) moves into sole possession of first.

Mount St. Mary's, Saint Francis U and Sacred Heart are also tied for second.  FDU host Sacred Heart on Saturday night at 7 p.m. in a game that is being broadcast on ESPN3.

The Knights grabbed an early 5-0 lead and were ahead 14-13 with 14:26 left in the first half, but Wagner used a 14-0 run to take control of the game.

Sophomore Earl Potts Jr. (Severn, Md./Archbishop Spalding ), who led the Knights with 17 points, sparked the Knights best run of the first half with a three-pointer and a thunderous alley-oop dunk.  Potts added a free throw to cut Wagner's lead to eight points with 3:28 left in the first half.  Freshman Ghassan Nehme (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain) followed with a pair of free throws to make it a six-point game, but the Seahawks would extend their lead to 11 points over the final minutes of the half.

The Knights started the second half strong with sophomore Darian Anderson (Washington, D.C./St. John's College ) scoring eight points over the first two and a half minutes to cut the deficit to five, but Wagner answered again and pushed its lead back to double-digits by the under 12 media timeout.

FDU would continue to chip away, making it a six-point game on two occasions, and would trail by just eight points with five minutes left to play.
However, Wagner would close the game on a 14-2 run to pull away for the 20-point victory.

"The better team won tonight.  We got off to a very good start offensively, but we were never able to stop them and when we did - we did not come up with the any tough rebounds," head coach Greg Herenda said after the game.  "I am still very, very proud of my team - that was the first time this year that we lost two conference games in a row.  The only other team that can say that going into tonight was Wagner and you can now see why."
 
"The great thing about this league is the quick turnaround game on Saturday night to make up for tonight's loss. We are already moving on to Saturday night."
 
Wagner dominated the boards with a 43-20 advantage on the glass.  The advantage led to 27 second chance points.  The Seahawks also had a 36-26 advantage on points in the paint and the Wagner bench outscored the FDU reserves 56-11.
 
Both team shot well in the contest, particularly at the free throw line.  FDU was 23-of-25 (92%) and Wagner was 34-of-37 (91.9%).
 
Potts led the Knights with 17 points.  He was followed closely by Anderson with 16 points.  Freshman Mike Holloway (Pittsgrove, N.J./Arthur P. Schalick ) (14 points) and sophomore Marques Townes (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph (Metuchen)) (11) also scored in double figures.
 
Holloway also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. 
 
Wagner had six players in double figures, including two Seahawks with double-doubles.  Mike Aaman scored a game-high 19 points.
 
The Knights will return to action on Saturday, February 20 when they host Sacred Heart in a game that will be broadcast live on ESPN3.  Tip between the Knights and Pioneers will be at 7 p.m. at Stratis Arena inside the Rothman Center.