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Pictured Above: Freshman Guard Romone Saunders (photo by Dave Saffran)

Staten Island, NY - The Wagner College men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 74-66 decision to former Northeast Conference (NEC) rival Monmouth at the Spiro Sports Center this afternoon.

With the loss, the Seahawks fallto 2-7 on the season while the Hawks improve their record to 5-5.

Wagner was led by a trio of freshman guards. Romone Saunders (Temple Hills, MD/Mt. Zion Prep) tallied a career-high 18 points on an efficient 7-of-15 shooting performance, while pulling down a team-leading nine rebounds in 21 minutes of action. Classmate JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) added 13 points, to go along with four assists in 28 minutes of play, while yet another promsing frosh, Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic), tossed in 11.

Senior guard Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC/David W. Butler) was the fourth Seahawk in double figures, finishing with 10 points. For the 6-0 sharp-shooter, this was his sixth straight double-digit scoring performance and 39th of his career.

Monmouth also exhibited balanced scoring with five players in double-figures, led by Deon Jones, who scored a game-high 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor in 23 minutes of action. Justin Robinson chipped in with 12, while dishing out a team-high six assists in a team-leading 32 minutes. The trio of Brice Kofane, Collin Stewart and Chris Brady each added 10 points in the victory while Kofane managed a double-double, pulling down 12 rebounds in the victory.

Wagner jumped out to a 6-4 lead behind four points from junior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet,NJ/Rhode Island/Raritan). The teams traded baskets for the majority of the openingg half before the momentum shifted Monmouth's way. After Cooper made both free-throw attempts to cut the lead to two, Monmouth embarked on an 11-5 run in jumping out to a 31-23 lead with less than a minute to go before halftime.  The Hawks held Wagner to just 1-of-5 shooting during this six-minute stretch while the visitors converted 4-of-8. The Seahawks narrowed the gap to five when Burton dialed up a trifecta that made it a 31-26 deficit at intermission.

The Seahawks opened the second half with a 5-0 spurt in knotting the score at 31-31. The Hawks then went on a 12-5 run over the next six minutes in jumping out to a 43-36 lead at the 12:59 mark after Jones competed an old-fashioned three-point play. Over the next seven minutes, the Seahawks whittled the deficit to 61-56, as Henson connected on a three-pointer from the left corner that brought the crowd of 1,311 to its feet. Monmouth then silenced the Staten Island faithful as Kofane converted a jump hook in the lane that pushed the lead back to seven with 5:23 left in regulation.

After Henson made one-of-two from the line, Wagner had three chances to get the game within a single possession. Sophomore forward Greg Senat (Elmont, NY/Elmont) grabbed the offensive reboundd off of Henson's second free throw try, he kicked the ball back out to Henson but his three-pointer bounced off the front iron with Senat in position for another rebound. The 6-6 Senat then spotted Cooper on the right wing but his chance also misfired. Saunders chased down the rebound and went up strong but Brady came up with the block. .

The Seahawks, who were out of timeouts, trimmed the Monmouth lead to three, 65-62, on a Cooper three-point play. On Monmouth's next possession, Kofane muscled his way inside for a jumper in the paint to make it 67-62. After Burton missed a layup, Monmouth's Josh James came up with a loose ball and sent a bullet pass to Kofane, who emphatically slammed it home, extending the Hawks lead to 69-62 with 1:26 left.

For the third time this season, the Seahawks were held to under 35 percent shooting from the field, finishing at 32.8 percent for the game, including 8-of-33 marksmanship from the outside. The 33 attempts are a season-high and the most since February 12, 2009 when Wagner attempted 32 three-pointers at Bryant. Monmouth, which shot 52.1 percent from the field and outscored the Seahawks 32-22 in the paint while holding a 15-2 edge in fast-break points. 

The men's basketball team will travel to Cincinnati to meet the Bearcats on Tuesday, December 23 in a 7:00 pm tip that will be streamed live on ESPN3.

Follow Wagner Athletics on Twitter (@wagnerathletics) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department, @WagnerHoops for news and updates on the men's basketball program and head coach Bashir Mason (@BashirMason) for news on the third-year head coach.