Game Notes: Fairleigh Dickinson | Wagner

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Staten Island, NY – The Wagner men's basketball team looks to snap a three-game losing streak when the Seahawks play host to Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in the second game of a doubleheader with the Seahawk and Knight women's teams set to meet at 1:00 p.m.

This afternoon's contest marks the 95th all-time meeting between the Seahawks and the Knights with Fairleigh Dickinson holding a 49-46 edge in the head-to-head series. Wagner is 8-2 against the Knights in their last 10 meetings and are riding an eight-game win streak, which dates back to February 3, 2011, when the Seahawks defeated FDU, 61-57 at Spiro Sports Center.

These two schools first started playing against each other back on December 16, 1955, where Wagner defeated the Knights, 83-68. In their previous meeting this season, on January 17, Wagner had four players in double-figures, led by Marcus Burton's game-high 22 points. Corey Henson posted 14 points while Stedman Allen and Japhet Kadji each posted 10 points, with Kadji's pulling down a team-best nine caroms. Malachi Nix led FDU with 13 points.THE COACHES
Wagner:                              
Bashir Mason:
46-40, Third Season
Overall Record at Wagner: Same
All-time against FDU:
 
Fairleigh Dickinson:
Greg Herenda
Overall Record: 124-108 (8^th season; Second @ FDU)
Overall Record at FDU: 17-38
All-time against WC: 0-3
 
LAST TIME OUT FOR WAGNER...

• Senior forward Jalen Cannon led all scorers with 26 points and 12 rebounds and Northeast Conference (NEC) leading St. Francis Brooklyn overcame an early one-point second-half deficit in handing Wagner an 83-66 defeat on Thursday night at the Pope Physical Education Center.
• With the loss, the Seahawks fall to 8-16 and 6-7 in conference play while the Terriers are 17-9 and a league-leading 11-2 in conference tilts.
• Three Seahawks finished in double-figures, led by freshman guard Romone Saunders (Temple Hills, MD/Mt. Zion Prep) who tossed in 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor while connecting on 3-of-4 from the outside. Senior guard Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC/David W. Butler) added 12 points, seven of which came in the first half of play, while freshman guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) finished with 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field. It was a Henson three-pointer at the 17:54 mark of the second half that gave the Seahawks their last lead of the game at 37-36.

 
ALL-TIME AGAINST FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON...

• This afternoon's contest marks the 95th all-time meeting between the Seahawks and the Knights with Fairleigh Dickinson holding a 49-46 edge in the head-to-head series.
• Wagner is 8-2 against the Knights in their last ten meetings and are riding an eight-game win streak, which dates back to February 3, 2011, when Wagner defeated FDU, 61-57 at Spiro Sports Center.
• These two schools first started playing against each other back on December 16, 1955, where Wagner defeated the Knights, 83-68.
• In their previous meeting on January 1, Wagner had four players in double-figures, led by Marcus Burton's game-high 22 points. Corey Henson posted 14 points while Stedman Allen and Japhet Kadji each posted 10 points, with Kadji's pulling down a team-best nine caroms. Malachi Nix led FDU with 13 points.
• Since that meeting, Wagner is 3-4 and currently is tied for seventh place in the Northeast Conference (NEC) with Sacred Heart at 6-7 in league play. Fairleigh Dickinson has lost seven straight games since meeting the Seahawks on January 17 and have dropped 11 straight contests overall.

 
SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS...

• The Knights enter this afternoon's contest looking for their first win in their last 11 games after falling. most recently, to Bryant, 74-71, at home on Thursday evening.
• In that contest, four Knights finished in double-figures, led by Darian Anderson's 19 point performance which came on 7-of-13 shooting from the field in 21 minutes of action. Matt MacDonald added 16 points while Malachi Nix and Mustafaa Jones supplied 12 and 11, respectively.
• Jones is the team's leading scorer at 13.8 points per game, which ranks eighth in the NEC. Anderson is the team's second leading scorer at 11.0 points per contest while Xavier Harris is pulling down nearly 6.0 rebounds a game.

 
AT THE HELM...

• Third year head coach Bashir Mason sports a 46-40 career record as he is in his third season manning the sidelines for the Seahawks.
• Mason, who was the youngest coach in Division I Men's Basketball prior to the start of this season (Dana Ford: Tennessee State), has led the Seahawks to back-to-back Northeast Conference semifinal appearances.
• On the opposite bench, Greg Herenda, is in his second season at Fairleigh Dickinson. Herenda led the Knights to a 10-21 overall record a season ago and their first NEC playoff appearance since the 2009-10 season.

 
BURTON CHATTER...

• Wagner senior guard Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC/David W. Butler) has now led the Seahawks in scoring in 11 games of the last 12 games, averaging 22.2 ppg over that span.
• Last week, he put up 17.5 ppg, including 22 against Sacred Heart on Thursday.
• Currently, Burton leads the NEC in overall (18.2) and conference (21.1) scoring.
• The fourth-year shooting guard is among the top-50 scorers in the nation as he ranks 46th in the NCAA.
• The Charlotte, NC native also needs just five more steals for 100 in his career. Currently, he has amassed 1,047 points, 207 rebounds, 166 assists and 95 steals.

 
CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARDS...

• Wagner, through games played of 2/9/15, rank 8th out of 355 ranked in the NCAA in Offensive Rebounds Per Game, pulling down 14.7 per contest. West Virginia leads the nation in this category at 17.36 per game.
• Against Sacred Heart on January 29, junior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Rhode Island) nabbed 14 rebounds, his second double-figure rebounding performance of the season. The team grabbed 46 total rebounds is the also good for the sixth highest total among NEC teams.
• In the Central Connecticut contest on January 24th, sophomore forward Greg Senat (Elmont, NY/Elmont) pulled down 15 rebounds, which tied the seventh highest mark set in the Northeast Conference this season.
• On two occasions this season, the Seahawks held a +22 advantage on the boards, outmuscling Central Connecticut, 54-32 on January 31st and back on January 17th at Fairleigh Dickinson (41-to-19).

 
LAST FIVE FOR THE SEAHAWKS...

• Wagner is 2-3 in their last five games.
• The Seahawks are 2-1 at home during this stretch.
• The Green & White are a +5.0 on the glass, outmuscling their opponents, 39.6-to-34.6 (70-to-47 on the offensive end).
• Marcus Burton is averaging 18.8 ppg over the last five games while forward Mike Aaman is posting 9.6 points and 10.0 rebounds over his last five games.

 
ROAD BLOCK...

• The Seahawks are just 1-12 in road contests this season, with the lone triumph coming on January 17th against Fairleigh Dickinson.
• Prior to the contest with the Knights, the team was 0-9, averaging just 64.0 points while shooting 38.6 percent from the floor and 30.8 percent from three-point range.
• In that contest against Fairleigh Dickinson, Wagner finished the game shooting 50.0 percent from the floor and connected on 83.9 percent from the free-throw line, their third highest conversion rate of the season.
• In 13 road games this season, the Seahawks are shooting 40.2 percent from the floor while their opponents are shooting close to 50.0 percent from the field.
• The Green & White hold a +1.1 on the boards (35.0-to-33.9)
• The Seahawks are one of 56 NCAA schools out of 351 to have only one road victory this season.
• Marcus Burton is the lone Seahawk to average double-figures on the road, as he is pouring in 16.2 points per game in 12 road games he has played in.

 
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME...

• All-time, Wagner is 138-74 at the Spiro Center, which include a 7-4 this season.
• Senior guard Marcus Burton is averaging a team-leading 20.4 points per game at home this season while freshman guard Romone Saunders is tallying 10.0 points.

 
TALE OF TWO HALVES…

• This season, Wagner has shown that, statistically, they are a better second half squad then a first half team.
• In the first half of games this season, the team is averaging 30.4 ppg while shooting 39.5% from the field, 32.1 percent from long-range while converting on 63.3% from the free-throw line while grabbing an average of 18.0 caroms a contest.
• Marcus Burton is averaging close to eight points in the first half of play while Mike Aaman has pulled down 5.1 rebounds during the opening half.
• After the halftime break, the Green & White are averaging 37.4 ppg while shooting the ball at a 41.5 percent clip and increasing their production at the free-throw, cashing in at 70.8 percent.
• In all second half action, Burton typically averages 10.0 ppg while JoJo Cooper dished out 2.4 assists in the closing stanza.

 
SABERMETRIC PERSPECTIVE...

• In the age of the Sabermetrics, the 2014-15 Seahawks have twice had all their players in the + column.
• The first time, in a 83-49 home victory over SUNY Old Westbury back on November 20th, , all 11 players that entered the game each finished with a positive ranking.
• The second occurrence happens on January 31st, when all 11 players finished on the plus led by Romone Saunders (50.90)

Player Minutes PF PA +/- +-/40
SENAT, Greg 18:34 47 22 +25 +53.86
COOPER, JoJo 24:03 58 31 +27 +44.91
BURTON, Marcus 27:50 61 34 +27 +38.80
KADJI, Japhet 11:40 24 13 +11 +37.71
ALLEN, Stedman 20:29 48 30 +18 +35.15
NAURAIS, Hugo 5:48 9 4 +5 +34.48
HENSON, Corey 23:01 47 29 +18 +31.28
EDMEAD, Aaren 19:54 40 25 +15 +30.15
LONG, Nolan 18:58 33 20 +13 +27.42
SAUNDERS, Romone 15:22 29 19 +10 +26.03
BURNETT, Langston 13:41 19 18 +1 +2.92
Total +/-: +170

Central Connecticut vs WAGNER
Player Minutes PF PA +/- +-/40
SAUNDERS, Romone20:26 54 28 +26 +50.90
KADJI, Japhet 4:07 11 6 +5 +48.58
LONG, Nolan 5:52 17 10 +7 +47.73
BURTON, Marcus 28:30 60 33 +27 +37.89
ALLEN, Stedman 19:41 47 30 +17 +34.55
EDMEAD, Aaren 18:49 45 29 +16 +34.01
AAMAN, Mike 20:11 48 33 +15 +29.73
SENAT, Greg 16:46 29 18 +11 +26.24
NAURAIS, Hugo 12:34 20 13 +7 +22.28
COOPER, JoJo 25:04 47 34 +13 +20.74
HENSON, Corey 25:39 52 41 +11 +17.15
Total +/-: +155
 
AGE IS JUST A NUMBER...

• Third year Wagner head coach Bashir Mason picked up career victory number 45 in a 75-64 triumph over Sacred Heart University on January 29th at Spiro Sports Center.
• Coach Mason, who is the second youngest Division I Men's Basketball coach (Tennessee State's Dana Ford is the youngest, born June 9, 1984; Mason is born 2/11/84), has the fourth highest win percentage among the nine youngest coaches at 46-40.
• Coach Mason will look for his 47th career win and sixth against Fairleigh Dickinson this afternoon at the Spiro Sports Center.

 
Nine Youngest NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches (sorted by age)
School                         Coach                    Birthday          Exp         Record/Pct.
Tennessee State         Dana Ford             6/9/1984         1st         5-21/.192
WAGNER                    BASHIR MASON    2/11/1984       3RD       46-40/.535
UNC Greensboro         Wes Miller             1/28/1983         4th        42-69/.378
Chattanooga                Will Wade             11/26/1982       2nd       35-24/.593
Minnesota                    Richard Pitino        9/16/1982        3rd        59-36/.621
Brown                           Mike Martin            7/4/1982          3rd         38-42/.475
Mount St. Mary's          Jamion Christian     4/18/1982       3rd         45-44/.506
IUPUI                            Jason Gardner        11/14/1980     1st         8-17/.320
Robert Morris              Andrew Toole         9/11/1980        5th         102-63/.618


COREY IS CLUTCH...

• First year guard Corey Henson has given third year head coach Bashir Mason a solid option, either in the starting rotation or off the bench
• In eight games off the bench, Henson is averaging 10.3 points per game while logging 26.1 minutes per game while shooting 50.9% from the floor and a blistering 81.0% from the free-throw line to go along with 40.7% from long range.
• In 16 games in the starting five, Henson has averaged 9.0 points per game.
• In their victory over Saint Francis U back on January 22nd, Henson scored a career-high 18 points, 13 of which coming in the first half.

 
UP NEXT FOR WAGNER...

• On Thursday, February 19th, the Wagner College Seahawks will welcome the Bryant University Bulldogs to the Spiro Sports Center.
• Thursday is Senior Night as the Seahawks will honor their two graduating players, Marcus Burton and Hugo Naurais.

 
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.