Postgame Press Conference | Highlights


HACKENSACK, N.J. – On Wednesday night, the Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team won its Northeast Conference Quarterfinal in dominant fashion, rolling past Wagner 84-46 at the Rothman Center.
 
In front of a raucous Burgundy and Blue crowd, the NEC Regular Season Champion Knights (18-13) made an opening-game statement and held the Seahawks (13-17) to just 14 first-half points. The Knights' 38-point margin of victory is the largest ever in an NEC Tournament game.

For the 10^th time this season, all five starters scored in double figures led by All-NEC Second Team honoree, Mike Holloway Jr.'s 18 points. All-NEC First Teamer, Darnell Edge scored 15 points with a career-high seven steals, while Elyjah Williams added 17 points on 5-of-5 shooting and six rebounds. Kaleb Bishop totaled 11 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots, while Jahlil Jenkins added 11 points and six assists.
 
The Knights, who have now won six straight and 12 of their last 14 games, will host No. 4 seed Robert Morris in the NEC Semifinals this Saturday, March 9 at 12:00 p.m. The two teams split their meetings this season with each team defending its home floor.
 
Elijah Davis topped the box score for the seventh-seeded Seahawks with 23 points and eight rebounds in the loss, while All-NEC Second Team honoree, Romone Saunders scored nine points and grabbed eight caroms. The Knights held their conference foe to a 27.9 percent field-goal percentage -- the lowest by an FDU opponent this season --  and forced 21 turnovers with a season-high 14 steals in the victory.
 
In addition to the defensive effort, the Burgundy and Blue shot 54.9 percent for the game and made 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) from three-point range.
 
After the win, head coach Greg Herenda spoke, "What can I say  -- we just played really good basketball for 40 minutes against a very good basketball team. It is really that plain and simple. I have so much respect for Bashir and his program but tonight other than rebounding early, we were on point in everything that we did."
 
"Darnell really set the tone offensively and it opened things up for Elyjah, Mike, and Kaleb. What we did best tonight was guard – we were all over the place defensively and that really got things going for the team and the crowd. Now we need to get ready to play another really hard playing team in Robert Morris. We just need to get some rest and start preparing for Saturday."
 
After falling behind 6-0, the Knights ran away and hid. The home team answered with a 19-4 run, highlighted by a breakaway dunk by Kaleb Bishop. Then, the Knights immediately followed with an 11-0 burst and established their first double-digit lead of the game after a 3-pointer by Brandon Powell, 24-10 with six minutes to go in the half.
 
Once the dust settled, the Burgundy and Blue held a 43-14 halftime cushion -- their largest lead in a half this season. The 14 first-half points permitted are the fewest in a half by the Knights since at least the 1997-98 season. 
 
Williams did not miss a shot in the stanza, totaling 12 points on 3-for-3 from the floor, 2-for-2 from behind the arc and 4-for-4 from the line to go along with five rebounds. Edge led all scorers at the break with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting as the Knights shot 63.6 percent from the field and drained 5-of-11 (54.5 percent) from three-point range.
 
Defensively, the Burgundy and Blue caused 11-first half turnovers and held the Seahawks to 6-of-25 (24 percent) from the field. Davis topped the box score for the road team with seven of the team's 14 points.
 
The second half featured more of the same as the Knights continued their shutdown defense and eventually built their largest lead, 42 points (74-32) with 5:43 to go.
 
With the win, the Knights are back in the NEC Semifinals for the second straight season.