BOX SCORE

New York, NY - Wagner dropped a hard-fought 77-71 decision to Columbia despite a season-high 24 points from junior Chris Martin (Sickleverille, NJ / Apex Academies) at Levien Gym. Junior Tyler Murray (Toronto, Ontario / Eastern Commerce) also added 18 points for the Seahawks, who fall to 4-4 on the year while the Lions improve to 5-4.

For the Green & White, the game marked the end of a grueling seven-game road trip as Wagner will return home to face Saint Peter's on Saturday, December 11 at 7:00 pm in the friendly confines of the Spiro Sports Center.

Columbia scored the first 11 points of the game en route to a game-opening 14-2 run at the 16:29 mark of the first half. Wagner responded with six-straight points, cutting the lead to 14-8 with just over 14 minutes to play. The Lions would eventually extend the lead to 13 on three seperate occasions but could not put away the pesky Seahawks as the Green & White rebounded to slice the deficit to four on two seperate occasions before heading into intermission down 36-30.

Martin kept Wagner, which shot 48.0 percent (12-25) in the opening stanza, in the game, scoring 15 of the Seahawks' 30 first-half points while going 5-of-6 from the floor. The rest of the team scored just 15 points, on 7-of-21 shooting, as Columbia hit on 48.3 percent (14-29) while winning the battle of the boards by an 18-9 margin, leading to a 22-16 advantage in points in the paint.

In the second half, the Lions pushed their lead out to 14 at 52-38 with 12:20 to play in the game before the Green & White went to work. Martin drilled a long three pointer, cutting it to 11. Sophomore Danny Mundweiler (Overland Park, KS / Olathe East) found Martin for a driving lay-up to make it a nine-point deficit. Then after pressuring Columbia into a bad shot, freshman Latif Rivers (Elizabeth, NJ / Avon Old Farms (CT)) found sophomore Ryan Schrotenboer (Fort Myers, FL / Bishop Verot) for a lay-up, slicing the lead to seven at 52-45 with 9:36 to play.

After the teams exchanged three pointers, Martin stole ball on the ensuing possession and hit a jumper, triimming the lead to five at 55-50 with 6:57 to play. After forcing another turnover, Martin's fadeaway three pointer attempt went in and out and Columbia answered with a layup on the other end en route to extending the lead back out to nine.

Martin answered with a pair of free throws before Murray followed suit and Thompson converted a layup to make it a one-possession game for the first time since the opening tip-off at 59-56 with 4:03 to play. Unfortunately, that would would be as close as Wagner would get as Columbia answered with a pair of John Daniels lay-ups, extending the lead back out to seven.The Seahawks would pull to within four points on three occasions but get no closer, falling to the Lions for the fifth-straight time by a 69-61 count.

Wagner, which entered the game as the NEC's leading field-goal percentage defense, allowed Columbia to shoot 53.1 percent (26-49) from the floor, including 60.0 percent (12-20) in the decisive second half. The Lions also won the battle of the glass, pulling down 39 while limiting the Seahawks to a season-low 19 rebounds, including just six on the offensive end.

The Green & White shot a solid 46.3 percent (25-54) from the floor, including 41.7 percent (5-12) outside the arc, while draining 72.7 percent (16-22) from the charity stripe. Wagner's defense also forced a season-high 23 miscues leading to a 21-10 advantage in points off turnovers.

Martin, who led all scorers with 24 points, was 8-of-13 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the charity stripe while notching four steals. Murray, who entered as the NEC's leading scorer, had 13 of his 18 points after halftime, highlighted by a 9-for-10 performance from the charity stripe. Thompson rounded out the double-figure scorers, hitting for 11 points, on 5-of-9 shooting.

Steve Frankowski paced three double-digit scorers for Columbia with 12 points.