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Picture Above: Freshman guard Corey Henson (photo by T.J. Root)

Loretto, PA – Freshman guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) tossed in 15 points and junior forward Stedman Allen (Bronx, NY/Labette CC-KS) nearly hit for a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds but it was not enough to offset a balanced effort by Saint Francis U, as Earl Brown led four players in double figures with 20 points in leading the Red Flash to an 85-68 win in the Northeast Conference (NEC) opener for both teams.

For Allen, a rugged 6-6 inside force, the 12 points and nine rebounds are both career highs, while Henson's 15-point outing is one shy of the career-high 16 he tallied at Lafayette (12/6) and marked the fifth time this season that he has hit for double figures. For the afternoon, the 6-3 Henson did not miss a single shot as he was 6-of-6 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the free throw line.

Nolan Long (Waterford, CT/Waterford/South Kent School), a 6-10 sophomore forward, and 5-10 freshman guard Aaren Edmead (Deer Park, NY/Deer Park), added nine points apiece for the Seahawks who fell behind by a 41-33 count at halftime. Wagner trailed 32-16 with 7:06 left in the opening half following a three-point jumper by Malik Harmon. With SFU on top 36-23 following an old-fashioned three-point play by Patrick Wrencher with 4:09 to go before intermission, the Seahawks closed the half on a 10-5 burst in making it an eight-point game at halftime.

Allen and freshman guard Romone Saunders (Temple Hills, MD/Potomac/Mt. Zion Prep) paced Wagner with six points each in an opening stanza that saw the Seahawks shoot 50 percent from the floor on 11-of-22 shooting. Jackson led SFU with nine first-half points as the Red Flash also hit 50 percent from the field, on 15-of-30 shooting, in the first half.

The teams traded blows at the outset of the second half, with SFU outscoring Wagner by a scant 8-7 margin over the first 4:17 following halftime as Wagner trailed by just a 49-40 count following an Allen three-point play with 15:43 left to play.

At the 15:23 mark, Ronnie Drinnon shook free for a three-point jumper of a feed from Harmon, a bucket that triggered a 10-0 SFU run over a 2:23 span, capped by a Wrencher jumper in the paint with 13:00 to go, that opened up a 59-40 Red Flash lead. Buckets by Allen and senior guard Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC/David W. Butler), the latter on a fast-break pull-up off of a Saunders assist, cut the deficit to 59-44 with 11:57 left. SFU then countered with a 7-0 burst, capped by a Dominique Major three-pointer which opened a 23-point lead at 67-44 with 9:51 to go.

The Seahawks would get as close as 15, at 76-61, following an Edmead jumper with 4:47 left to play before SFU answered with five straight points in building the lead back to 20 at 81-61, en route to the 85-68 win.

In addition to his game-high 20 points, Brown, a 6-6 senior forward from Philadelphia, also recorded a game-high 11 rebounds in posting the double-double. Ollie Jackson added 19 points for the Red Flash while Major and Greg Brown finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively. SFU shot 50.9 percent from the floor (28-of-55), aided by a hot 50 percent (13-of-26) from three-point range.

While Wagner shot a solid 47.3 percent from the field (26-of-55), the Seahawks were undone by going just 3-of-16 (18.8%) from beyond the arc.

The Red Flash held a 36-30 edge in the rebounding department and were credited with 18 turnovers while committing 12 turnovers. Wagner was also guilty of 12 turnovers while credited with eight assists.

In dropping their seventh straight game, the Seahawks fall to 2-10 overall on the season, 0-1 in NEC play while the Red Flash are now 7-5 on the season, 1-0 in conference.

Wagner is right back at it on Monday, January 5 when they return home to meet defending NEC Champion Mount St. Mary's in a 7:00 pm contest. The Mount will enter Monday's play with an overall mark of 4-8, and an NEC record of 0-1, after falling at Robert Morris on Saturday by a 70-45 count.

The Seahawk-Mountaineer matchup will be the second game of a doubleheader with the Wagner and Mount St. Mary's women's teams meeting at 4:00 p.m.

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