Postgame Press Conference - Coach Herenda

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – In the first meeting between the teams since last year's Northeast Conference Championship Game, the defending conference champion Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team prevailed with a thrilling 70-69 victory over Wagner College at Spiro Sports Center on Thursday night.
 
The Knights (5-9, 3-0 NEC) held a double-digit lead with under five minutes to go but a four-plus minute scoreless drought allowed Wagner (5-8, 1-2 NEC) to claw to within one in the final minute. However, for the third straight game, the Knights' defense came up clutch and turned away two game-winning chances by the Seahawks in the waning seconds to secure the victory.
 
Stephan Jiggetts led the way for the Knights with 17 points and seven assists, while Mike Holloway finished with 16 points and a team-high six boards. The Knights also received a huge contribution from Ghassan Nehme, who knocked down 4-of-5 from 3-point range, and finished with 12 points.
 
With the win, the Knights improve to 3-0 in NEC play for the first time since the 2006-07 season. They now are in sole possession of first place in the conference standings through three games and have won seven of their last eight NEC road games, including last year's title game.

"Road conference wins do not come easy and tonight was a testament to that. Give our players all of the credit -- they guarded their hearts out in the second half right up until that buzzer went off," said head coach Greg Herenda following the win.

"It was a total team effort tonight but our stabilizing force throughout the game was Steph (Jiggetts). He played a great great floor game. On top of that, Mike Holloway, Ghassan -- you can go on and on. But Earl's defense on Carey in the last possession of the game says so much about his game and maturity."

Herenda added, "I love this group because they have a great inner belief in each other and winning."
 
Both teams were off the mark to start as Wagner opened the contest 1-for-6 and the Knights connected on one of their first four by the first media timeout.
 
The Seahawks found the touch and delivered a 10-0 spurt to take a 12-3 lead seven minutes into play. After a 1-for-7 start, Malik Miller snapped the cold stretch for the Knights by splashing a 3-pointer.
 
Miller's trifecta set off of stretch of 15 straight points for the Knights as they captured an 18-12 lead. Jiggetts and Darian Anderson both connected from distance over that span before Blake Francis nailed a 3-pointer for Wagner to end the run.
 
Wagner quickly erased the deficit as the game went back and forth before the Seahawks carried a three-point lead into the break, 39-36.
 
Carey shouldered the Wagner offense in the first half and was a force on the glass, notching a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. The senior swingman finished with an impressive 21-point, 22-rebound performance.
 
Despite allowing Wagner to shoot 51.6 percent (16-for-31) from the field, the Knights were within one possession at halftime thanks to a 7-for-14 (50%) effort from behind the arc. Nehme spearheaded that effort with a perfect 3-for-3 performance from distance. The sophomore guard tallied nine points in the stanza, while Jiggetts paced the Knights with 10.
 
True to form, Wagner, who entered the game ranked eighth in the nation with a +8.8-rebound differential, took care of business on the glass and out-rebounded the Knights 21-9 in the half. For the game, the home team finished with a 43-21 advantage on the boards.
 
The game remained tight early on in the second half with the teams trading buckets. Jiggetts buried a long 3-pointer, which gave the Knights a 58-52 lead midway through the half. The Knights' junior point guard spurred on the offense as the lead grew to nine.
 
After four straight points by Wagner, Jiggetts found Darnell Edge in the opposite corner for a 3-pointer, which gave the Knights a 66-58 lead with five to go. Edge's lone basket of the night was a big one as Holloway followed with a nifty layup and the advantage grew to double-digits for the first time.
 
Wagner managed to fight its way back with a 9-0 run as the Knights went four-plus minutes without a bucket.
 
With less than a minute to go – and leading by one – Jiggetts maneuvered his way into the lane and dropped off a dish to Holloway, who promptly laid the ball in for a 70-67 Knights lead. Carey answered with a pair of free throws for Wagner and made it a one-point game with 15 seconds to go.

Potts Jr. earned a trip to the line but the front-end of his 1-and-1 rimmed out, which gave the Seahawks the ball with 8.7 seconds to play.

On the ensuing possession, Potts Jr. locked down Carey, who missed an off-balance, 3-point shot, however, Francis nabbed the offensive rebound for Wagner. With time winding down, Francis' desperation try from near the free throw line caromed off the rim as the final horn sounded.

After Wagner shot 51.6 percent from the field in the first half, the Knights turned up the defense and limited their opposition to just 28 percent in the second stanza on seven made baskets.

Anderson filled up the statsheet with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals in the win. The junior guard has tallied four steals in each of the Knights' last two games and currently ranks sixth all-time in school history with 135 steals.

The Knights look to make it four straight when they host Bryant this Saturday, January 7 at 3 p.m.