STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team fell 73-65 to Wagner at the Spiro Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
After shooting 51 percent from the floor in the first half, the Knights (5-10, 2-2 NEC) were limited to just five field goals on 20 attempts over the first 15 minutes of the second half as the Seahawks erased a three-point halftime deficit and captured a double-digit lead.
 
The Knights would get within one possession in the final two minutes but were unable to tie the game or take the lead again.
 
Wagner's (10-5, 3-1 NEC) defensive pressure in the second half and a 35-9 advantage at the free throw line proved to be the difference in the contest. The Knights connected on 8-of-9 (88.9 percent) at the charity stripe, while the Seahawks scored 26 times on their 35 attempts equating to 74.3 percent.
 
Senior guard Darian Anderson led all scorers with 21 points to go along with four assists, three steals and a pair of rebounds. Anderson also passed Sean Baptiste (2007-10) for eighth all-time on the Knights' scoring list and now has 1,521 career points.

Anderson was joined in double figures by junior guard Darnell Edge, who finished with 18 points and five boards on the afternoon.
 
Wagner senior guard JoJo Cooper paced four Seahawks to score in double figures with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, while redshirt junior forward AJ Sumbry scored 12 with eight rebounds and four blocked shots in the win as the Seahawks improved to 8-0 at home this season.
 
The Knights lost the rebound battle 39-29 and were held to seven steals – nearly three below their season average – but turned the Seahawks over 18 times and committed 14 miscues of their own.

"That was a hard-fought conference game and we just never got into a good offensive rhythm," said head coach Greg Herenda following the loss. "We should have gone into the half with a significant lead but we made a few crucial turnovers that really hurt us."

Herenda continued, "I really like the way we guarded the basketball today but we somehow sent them to the line an extraordinary amount of times and that was just too difficult for us to overcome. I am still very proud of my team -- we opened with three out of four conference games on the road and eight of nine overall on the road and we are 2-2 in our conference."
 
After a 9-of-29 second-half shooting performance, the Knights finished at 41.4 percent for the game and connected on 9-of-27 (33.3 percent) overall from behind the arc. The Seahawks shot 40.4 percent overall and 47.4 percent from downtown.
 
The Seahawks led 20-15 midway through the half thanks to a 4-for-4 start from Cooper. Three of Cooper's buckets came from behind the arc as he totaled 11 of the team's first 20.
 
Mike Holloway Jr. started equally strong for FDU by scoring eight of the team's first 15 on a 4-of-5 shooting start. A three-pointer by Noah Morgan followed by a tough layup and pull-up jumper from Anderson gave the Knights their first lead 22-21 at the under-eight media timeout.  An offensive rebound putback by Nadi Beciri extended the Knights' lead to three and capped a 14-3 run with just under six minutes to play.
 
After Beciri snared another offensive rebound and hit a cutting Jahlil Jenkins for a layup the Knights held their biggest lead of the half, 35-27, 1:41 shy of halftime. The Seahawks closed the stanza by netting seven of the final nine points and cut the FDU lead to 37-34 at the break.
 
A balanced first-half attack saw Edge lead the way with 10 points for FDU on 3-of-5 shooting, while Anderson and Holloway scored eight.
 
Cooper paced the Seahawks' first-half offense by pouring in 17 and dished out four assists, however, his teammates shot 6-of-21 (28.5 percent) resulting in a team percentage of 37.9 at the break.
 
The Knights shot 51.7 percent overall but just 3-of-11 (27.3 percent) from downtown. Although they only grabbed three steals in the half, they out-rebounded the Seahawks, who entered the game ranked second in the NEC in rebounding, 17-16.
 
Wagner stormed out of the locker room with an 18-5 run over the first six minutes to capture a double-digit advantage, 52-42. Blake Francis connected on two of three trifectas by the Seahawks over that span. A corner three by Edge put an end to the run with 12:29 to play and forced a Seahawks timeout.
 
The Knights connected on just 3-of-13 shots over the first 12 minutes of the second half and trailed by nine at the under-eight media timeout.
 
A 10-2 spurt over the next seven minutes allowed the Knights to trim the lead to four, 66-62 with 1:23 to play. Anderson scored five over that span, while the Seahawks' points came via a pair of free throws by Sumbry.
 
Sumbry, who scored 10 of his 12 points at the free throw line, came up with a huge defensive play in the final minute by blocking Kaleb Bishop's dunk attempt, which would have cut it to three.
 
An Anderson three-pointer with 37 seconds left would trim the deficit to four but the Knights would not get any closer.
 
The Knights return to action next Thursday, January 11 when they take on LIU Brooklyn for the second time this season. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Rothman Center.