FINAL STATS

Brooklyn, NY - The Long Island University men's basketball team sprinted out of the gate against Wagner en route to a 74-48 win on Saturday afternoon at the Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center. 

The Blackbirds opened the game with a 13-1 run and rode a stifling defensive effort to their 10th straight home win in improving to 13-12 overall and 9-5 in the Northeast Conference. 

With the loss, the Seahawks saw their two-game winning streak come to an end n falling to 12-13 overall, 4-10 in NEC play. 

Fifth-year senior forward Jamal Smith (Baltimore, MD/ Towson Catholic) paced Wagner with 11 points while fifth-year senior guard Joey Mundweiler (Olathe, KS/ Olathe East) and freshman guard Chris Martin chipped in with eight points apiece. 

Kyle Johnson led the Blackbirds with 21 points, while Julian Boyd added 18 points and 11 rebounds.Jaytornah Wisseh opened the scoring with a three-pointer and Johnson followed with seven points during the opening run, capping it off with a three-point play at the 12:27 mark to make it 13-1.
Wagner came out cold, missing its first 10 shots of the game, while Ron Manigaultmade his presence felt on the boards, collecting seven of his game-high 12 rebounds in the opening 9:05 while denying the Seahawks any second chances. 

After absorbing the opening salvo, Wagner managed to claw back into the contest and close to within 19-13 following a layup by sophomore forward Clifton Spiller (Pleasantivile, NJ/ Holy Spirit), but LIU quickly rattled off eight straight points, capped by a Boyd layup to make it 27-13 with 2:34 left in the half. A jumper by fifth-year senior guard Justin Drummond (Baltimore, MD/ McDonogh) and a layup by Smith got Wagner to within 29-20 at the intermission, but the Seahawks would get no closer the rest of the way. Wagner forced LIU into 11 turnovers in the opening but was unable to take advantage as the Seahawks shot just 23.5 percent from the field and were 0-of-7 on three-pointers.

The Blackbirds pulled away with a 19-4 run midway through the second half. Smith pulled Wagner to within 37-28, but LIU and Boyd responded with the decisive spurt. Boyd scored all 13 of his second half points in the run that last 7:59. He hit the last four points of the run, giving LIU a 56-32 lead with 6:37 to play.

A three-pointer by freshman Michael Culpo gave LIU its biggest lead of the day at 67-36 before Wagner trimmed the deficit to the final margin following two foul shots by freshman guard Chris Martin (Sicklerville, NJ/ Apex Academies) with 30 seconds to play.

Long Island held Wagner to 27.0 percent shooting on the day, including 2-of-14 from three-point range. The Blackbirds also controlled the glass, outrebounding Wagner, 58-32, and outscoring the Seahawks, 36-16 in the paint.

Wagner is next in action on Thursday night when the Seahawks host Mount St. Mary's in a 7:00 pm tip at the Spiro Sports Center.