FINAL STATS

Staten Island, NY – Fairleigh Dickinson guard Terence Grier sank an NBA-length three-point jumper at the buzzer to lift the Knights to a 59-57 overtime win over Wagner in Northeast Conference (NEC) action at the Spiro Sports Center. 

In dropping its sixth-straight game, the Seahawks fall to 10-12 on the season, 3-9 in the NEC. With the victory, FDU moves to 6-17, 4-7 in conference play. 

FDU was comfortably ahead 49-33 with 10:08 to play following a lay-in by center Alvin Mofunanya before Wagner turned up its defensive intensity in closing out regulation play on a 16-0 run. The regulation-ending spurt was capped by a fast-break lay-up by fifth-year senior forward Jamal Smith (Baltimore, MD/ Towson Catholic) off a pretty bounce pass from redshirt sophomore guard #T.J. Czeski# (Amsterdam, NY/ Amsterdam), which tied the game at 49-49 with 15 seconds remaining in regulation. A three-point jumper at the buzzer by Eric Moore was off the mark, sending the game into overtime. 

The Knights broke their 10:38 second-half scoring drought when Mofunyana hit a lay-up 30 seconds into overtime to put FDU on top 51-49. Smith sank a pair of free throws to tie it at 51-51 which began an 8-1 run that lifted the Seahawks to a 57-52 lead. 

A Smith jumper in the lane with 3:03 left gave Wagner its first lead since it was 2-0. A Czeski layup with 2:23 to go made it 55-51. Senior inside force Llew Radford (Newport News, VA/ Heritage) then fouled out with Wagner leading by that 55-51 margin and 2:10 to play, departing with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds. After Mofunyana hit one of two free throws to make 55-52 at the 2:10 mark, fifth-year senior point guard Justin Drummond (Baltimore, MD/ McDonogh) hit a bank shot from just inside the foul line which upped the Seahawk lead to 57-52. 

FDU then closed the game with a 7-0 run, capped by Grier's game-winner. 

During Wagner's 16-0 stretch that closed regulation, the Seahawks held FDU to 0-of-7 shooting from the field and 0-for-4 from three-point range. During this stretch, the Knights also were 0-for-3 from the free throw line and committed eight turnovers. Over the 10:08 regulation-closing segment, Wagner was 5-of-15 from the field but were 3-of-6 from beyond the arc while committing just one turnover. 

The Knights shot 50 percent from the field while the Seahawks checked in at 37 percent. The Green & White won the rebounding battle. 37-35. Neither team shot the ball well from the free throw line as the Knights were 36 percent (5-of-14) while Wagner was 50 percent (7-of-14). 

Mofunyana, Moore and Sean Baptiste each scored 13 points for the Knights while the Seahawks were led by Drummond and fifth-year senior guard Joey Mundweiler (Olathe, KS/ Olathe East) who tallied 15 and 11 points, respectively. 

Guard Sean Baptiste scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead the Knights to a 30-22 halftime lead. FDU shot 52% from the field in the opening half while holding the Seahawks to 36% shooting. The Seahawks connected on just 20 percent (2-of-10) from beyond the arc in the opening stanza. Wagner hurt itself from the free throw line, going 0-of-5 from the charity stripe in the opening half. 

Smith left the lineup just three minutes into the contest suffering from flu-like symptoms and did sat out the remainder of the half. Smith went out of the game with 17 minutes left in the half and did not re-enter the fray until the 16:46 juncture of the second half. In just 20 minutes of action, the gutsy Smith wound up with six points and eight rebounds. 

Wagner is next in action on Saturday, February 7 when the Seahawks host Saint Francis (PA) in a 4:00 p.m. game at the Spiro Sports Center that will be televised live on MSG.