Post Game Press Conference With Head Coach Bashir Mason

Staten Island, NY – The visiting LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds sparked a 17-0 early second-half run that erased a 17-point deficit and went on to hand Wagner its first home loss of the season, edging the Green & White 71-70 at the Spiro Sports Center. 

Wagner, who entered with a three-game win streak and a 6-0 mark at home this season, now stands at 10-6 overall and 3-2 in the Northeast Conference, while the Blackbirds even its overall record to 8-8 and improve to 2-3 in league play. 

Three Seahawks finished in double-figures, led by sophomore guard Romone Saunders (Temple Hills, MD/Potomac [Mt. Zion Prep) who finished with a team-high 21 points off the bench on 8-of-14 shooting.  For Saunders, it is his second straight 20-point performance, as the second-year guard tallied a career-best 21 points at Sacred Heart last Saturday (January 9).  

Junior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) recorded his fifth double-double of the season and third in six games, as he scored 13 points and grabbed ten rebounds in 38 minutes of play.  Fellow backcourt teammate, redshirt senior guard Dwaun Anderson (Suttons Bay, MI/Suttons Bay [Michigan State]) chipped in ten points and five rebounds in 29 minutes of play. 

LIU Brooklyn also had three players score in double-digits, led by Aakim Saintil's game-high 27 points, on 7-of-15 shooting from the field.  Saintil was the catalyst in LIU's 17-0 run, scoring eight of those points. Jerome Frink added 17 points and seven rebounds in 40 minutes of play while Nura Zanna chipped in 12 points and seven caroms before fouling out late in the second half.  

LIU's Martin Hermannsson sparked the 17-0 Blackbird run with a jumper at the 18:19 mark.  LIU Brooklyn would go on to score another 15 straight points over the next 4:43, with Frink's dunk capping the run with 13:36 left to play, making it a 43-43 game. During the dry spell, the Seahawks were 0-of-4 from the field, including a pair of missed layups, and 0-of-2 from the free throw line while committing four turnovers. Conversely, the Blackbirds were 4-of-4 from the field and 6-of-6 from the line during the 4:43 spurt.

Wagner responded to LIU's 17-0 burst with a 10-3 run of its own, that was capped off by a three-pointer from Saunders with 11:36 showing on the game clock, giving Wagner a 53-46 lead.  The visiting Blackbirds managed to tie the game at 58 after a Joel Hernandez dunk with 6:47 left to go. Again, Wagner answered back with a 9-3 run to extend the back to six, 67-61, when Anderson split a pair of free throws with just 2:55 remaining in regulation. 

Saintil put the Blackbirds on his back, as he connected on a long-range three that drew LIU to within three, 67-64. Frink followed suit with a layup that closed the gap to just one, 67-66, with 1:57 remaining. Wagner's graduate forward Henry Brooks (New Orleans, LA/Miller Grove [University of Pennsylvania]) made the back end of two free- throws, which extended the lead to 68-66 before LIU called its final timeout. When play resumed, it was Frink, again, as the LIU big man muscled his way on a left-handed layup that tied the score at 68 with just 57 seconds left. 

Following a Wagner timeout, an ill-advised turnover from Brooks led to a breakaway slam dunk by Frink, giving the visitors a 70-68 lead late in the contest. After corralling the offensive rebound off a missed three-pointer from his fellow classmate, Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic), Saunders drew the foul on Martin Hermannsson with 29 ticks showing on the clock. 

Saunders, a 73.9 percent career free-throw shooter, missed the first freebie but was able to swish in the second, cutting LIU's lead to 70-69.  On the ensuing possession, Hermannsson drew contact and was sent to the line.  The native of Iceland went 1-of-2 from the stripe, giving the Blackbirds a 71-69 lead with eleven seconds. 

Wagner had a chance to tie the game, but Henson's layup opportunity was too strong off the glass with the loose ball finding Glenn Feidanga's hands.  Feidanga proceeded to miss both free throw attempts as Henson brought down the rebound and was immediately fouled by Feidanga. Henson made the first attempt, cutting the lead back to one, 71-70, but missed the second. Carey was able to soar high above a couple of Blackbirds and bring down the rebound, but his layup chance was off-the-mark as the Blackbirds escaped Staten Island with the one-point win.

The Seahawks opened the game with a 19-9 run and led by that mark over the first nine minutes, in which the Seahawks shot 8-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from the outside.  The Blackbirds were held to just 3-of-7 and turned the ball over five times during this stretch.  The home team led 39-26 at the break while shooting 54.8 percent from the field and holding the Blackbirds to just 33.3 percent.  

When play resumed for the second half, the Seahawks had taken its largest lead of the contest, 43-26, following an Anderson layup. For the game, Wagner outrebounded the Blackbirds 43-31 on the glass. It marks the sixth straight game that the Seahawks have outperformed its opposition on the boards, in which Wagner is 4-2 over that six-game stretch. 

Wagner is right back at it on Saturday, January 18 when the Seahawks host Central Connecticut at 4:00 p.m. in the second game of a doubleheader with the Seahawk and Blackbird women set to tip off at 1:00 p.m.

Follow Wagner Athletics on Facebook (facebook.com/WagnerAthletics), Twitter (@wagnerathletics), Instagram (@wagnerathletics) and YouTube (@WagnerSeahawks) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department. Follow Wagner MBasketball on Twitter (@Wagner_MBB) for the latest news and updates on the 2015-16 Wagner Men's Basketball team and head coach Bashir Mason (@BashirMason) for news on the fourth-year head coach.