HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The 2019 Northeast Conference Regular Season Champion Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team is set for the madness of March to begin. The No. 2 seed Knights host No. 7 seed Wagner in an NEC Tournament Quarterfinal matchup at the Rothman Center on Wednesday night.

Game 31
#2 Fairleigh Dickinson (17-13, 12-6 NEC)
vs. #7 Wagner (13-16, 8-10 NEC)
Date: Wednesday, March 6
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Rothman Center (Hackensack, N.J.) 
Coverage: Live Stats | NEC Front Row 

Tickets
All: Cash Only, Tickets for Wednesday's game are $10 for adults and $5 for children between the ages of 5 and 18 years of age and can be purchased upon arrival.
Staff/Students: Head Coach Greg Herenda has graciously offered to cover the cost of your $10 ticket to the game!  All you have to do is sign up to receive a free ticket!
To sign up, email Danielle Ryan at dryan@student.fdu.edu or pick up at designated locations/times

Opening Tip

• The Knights, nabbed a share of the NEC regular season title for the first time since 2006 by finishing with a 12-6 mark this season. The Burgundy and Blue finished tied atop the NEC standings with Saint Francis U, who earned the No. 1 seed via tiebreaker.
• With 12 NEC wins the Knights have netted their highest total since the 2005-06 season. The Burgundy and Blue overcame a 1-4 start to conference play and have now won 11 of their last 13 outings including their last five.
• FDU is 31-25 all-time in the NEC Tournament and has reached the finals ten times (5-5). The Knights are also 16-10 all-time in NEC quarterfinal/first round games.
• Senior captains Darnell Edge (All-NEC First Team) and Mike Holloway Jr. (All-NEC Second Team) took home conference honors on Tuesday.
• The duo is looking to bookend their careers with another NEC title after taking home the championship as freshmen in 2015-16.
• The Knights and Seahawks split their two meetings this season with each team defending its home floor. In NEC postseason games, the teams have met nine times including three of the last four years. The Knights lead the postseason series 7-2.
• The Knights sit atop the NEC in field goal percentage (47.1%), three-point field goal percentage (40.0%), scoring margin (2.9), assist/turnover ratio (1.1), steals (7.6) and turnover margin (1.3).
• Their 40 percent clip from behind the arc is fifth in the nation and their 47.1 percent field-goal percentage ranks 50^th.
• All five Knights starters are averaging double figures in points this season: Darnell Edge (16.2), Jahlil Jenkins (13.3), Mike Holloway Jr. (12.4), Xzavier Malone-Key (11.4), Kaleb Bishop (10.0).
• Darnell Edge leads the NEC in both 3-pt FG% (47.6%) and FT% (87.9%). His 46.9 percent three-point clip is fourth best in the nation.
• The Knights are 16-0 this season when leading with five minutes to play in regulation.
• Last season, the Knights topped Saint Francis U 84-75 in the NEC Quarterfinals before suffering a heartbreaking one-point loss to eventual champion LIU Brooklyn in the semifinal game.

Coach Herenda's Postseason Comments
"I am very happy for all of our players -- we got off to a very slow start in the conference but they just continued to climb on a daily basis and now we share the title. It is a testament to each and every player that wears the Burgundy and Blue. It has been awhile since we have won a regular season title and that is great but we are staying in the present and it is now time to prepare for the NEC Tournament and we need to get the Rothman Center rocking on Wednesday night. It is March and this is what we live for."

NEC Tournament Notes

• This is the Knights' 31^th NEC Tournament appearance and fifth in Greg Herenda's six seasons.
• The Burgundy and Blue are 4-3 in NEC playoff games under Herenda and 31-25 all-time in the NEC Tournament. They have reached the finals ten times (5-5).
• In last season's NEC Semifinal loss at LIU Brooklyn, junior forward Kaleb Bishop scored 19 points with an FDU single-game record 22 rebounds. The 22 caroms also tied the NEC Tournament's single-game mark.
• FDU has won NEC Tournaments in 1985, 1988, 1998, 2005 and 2016. The five NEC Tournament championships are tied for third all-time behind Robert Morris' eight titles and LIU Brooklyn's six titles.
• With 31 appearances across the 38 NEC postseason tournaments the Knights rank second all-time. Since the inception of the conference in 1982, Robert Morris (35) has qualified for the most in league history.
• In 2016, Fairleigh Dickinson became the first school to win the NEC crown after failing to qualify for the tourney the previous year (when eligible).
• FDU is 16-10 all-time in NEC quarterfinal/first round games, 10-9 in the semifinals, and 5-5 in championship games.
• FDU owns the longest consecutive NEC Tournament qualification streak with 18 straight appearances from 1984-01.

The Knights and Seahawks have met nine times in the NEC postseason with FDU holding a 7-2 advantage.
3/1/17 :#3 Wagner 72, #6 FDU 70 (at Wag)
3/8/16: #2 FDU 87, #1 Wagner 79 (at Wag)
3/9/05: #1 FDU 58, #6 Wagner 52 (at FDU)
3/6/04: #3 FDU 69, #6 Wagner 67 (at Wag)
2/27/98: #2 FDU 78, #6 Wagner 49 (at FDU)
3/2/94: #4 Wagner 90, #5 FDU 81 (at Wag)
2/26/91: #2 FDU 94, #7 Wagner 68 (at FDU)
3/7/86: #1 FDU 81, #4 Wagner 77 (at Robert Morris)
3/8/83 #2N FDU 94,#6N Wagner 84 at FDU)

FDU vs. Wagner - The Series
All-Time Series...54-56
at FDU..32-26
Last Five..2-3
Streak..W1
Last Meeting... Fairleigh Dickinson 74, Wagner 66 (2/23/19 at FDU)

All five starters scored in double figures as the Knights defeated Wagner on Senior Day. The Knights led by as many as 17 points in the victory. The victory was also career win No. 200 for Herenda. Edge celebrated his senior day by scoring 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting and added four rebounds and three assists to his ledger. Edge's classmate and fellow captain, Mike Holloway Jr. added 11 points and seven rebounds, while Jahlil Jenkins and Xzavier Malone-Key netted 15 and 10 points, respectively. Jenkins added six rebounds and five assists in the win and junior forward Kaleb Bishop joined the foursome with 11 points.

Saturday's contest marked the 10^th time this season that the Knights have registered five or more scorers in double figures. The Knights, who earned the season series split with the Seahawks, shot 59.1 percent in the second half and 51.1 percent overall, while limiting the Seahawks to 38.9 percent. Nigel Jackson paced the Seahawks with 22 points and made four 3-pointers in the loss.

The Coaches

• Head Coach Greg Herenda is in his sixth season at the helm of the Knights. Last season, the Knights enjoyed their third consecutive .500 or better season in NEC play as Herenda led the team to a 9-9 conference mark. Under Herenda, the Knights have qualified for the NEC Tournament in four of his five seasons, including a 2016 NEC Championship when the team earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament featuring the third-youngest team in the nation.
• Seventh-year head coach Bashir Mason has a earned a pair of NEC Coach of the Year honors during his tenure. Like Herenda, Mason hails from Jersey City. A 2007 graduate of Drexel, Mason concluded his college career second on the Dragons' all-time steals list (226) and fourth on its all-time assists list (471). Mason arrived at Wagner from Marist College, where he spent two seasons as an assistant coach, under Dan Hurley.

Scouting Wagner
The Seahawks are back in the NEC Tournament for the seventh straight season under Mason but have lost their last four games entering Wednesday's quarterfinal. In their regular-season finale on Saturday, the Seahawks fell at home 69-60 to Robert Morris. In the loss, seniors Romone Saunders and Elijah Davis finished with 26 points and 17 points, respectively. Defense is Wagner's calling card as they lead the NEC in scoring defense, limiting opponents to 67.6 points per game, however, at the offensive end the team is last in the conference averaging 66.5 points per contest. The Seahawks also lead the NEC in field goal defense, holding their foes to 42.5 percent from the field.  The other area where the team has excelled this season is on the boards. Wagner currently owns the second-best rebound margin (+3.4). Saunders is the catalyst for this year's squad as he leads the team in points per game (16.7), rebounds (7.2), assists (3.7) and steals (1.5). Saunders scoring and rebound totals each rank fourth in the NEC. Davis is the lone other Seahawks scoring in double figures this season at 11.8 points per game.

Knights Last Time Out
Junior forward Kaleb Bishop notched a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double and the Knights extended their win streak to five by closing out the regular season with a 70-58 victory at Central Connecticut State Saturday afternoon.

Bishop's 17 points led three Knights in double figures as senior Darnell Edge scored 15 points with four assists and three boards and sophomore Jahlil Jenkins added 13 points with four steals, three rebounds and two assists.

Edge, who entered the contest ranked inside of the top 10 nationally in three-point field goal percentage, hit 4-of-6 from behind the arc and moved into second place all-time at FDU with 188 3-pointers.

As a team, the Knights made 12-of-22 (54.5 percent) from behind the arc, which proved to be the difference as the two teams both shot 43 percent overall. The Knights edged Central (11-20, 5-13 NEC) on the boards 34-32 and each team grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in the contest.

Freshman Brandon Powell provided the Burgundy and Blue with a spark off of the bench and record a career-high eight points and four steals, while Mike Holloway Jr. led the Knights with a career-high five assists in the win.

Coach Herenda's Postgame Thoughts
"I give credit to Donyell (Marshall) and his team, they play very hard together and we had to work for 40 minutes to come away with a victory today. Today was the end of a long road trip and I just love how my team stayed together and played so hard in both victories. I really cannot say enough about Darnell Edge and his career. He came to Fairleigh Dickinson at the age of 17 and has worked himself into one of the great players in our school's history. He truly did it the old-fashioned way and there is more to come."

"Brandon Powell continues to come off the bench and give us quality minutes on both sides of the ball. He and Kaleb were both terrific today when we needed them the most. Now it is tournament time and it is March and there is nothing better than that."

Up Next
The winner of Wednesday's contest will advance to the NEC Tournament Semifinals. Tip-off for the semifinal games are 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. with the highest remaining seeds hosting each game.