Wagner College Will Be Testing Road Ability At Sacred Heart U. on Saturday (Cormac Gordon, Staten Island Advance)

Fairfield, CT - After extending its home record to 6-0, the Wagner men's basketball team will close out week two of the Northeast Conference (NEC) season as the Seahawks travel to Fairfield, CT to tangle with the Sacred Heart University Pioneers this afternoon at 3:30 p.m.

Wagner (9-5; 2-1 NEC) has won three of its last four games after handing Bryant its first conference defeat of the season, 65-56, in front of 2,023 fans at the Spiro Sports Center and a national audience tuned in live on CBS Sports Network.

Sacred Heart (2-12; 1-2 NEC) is looking to even its conference record after dropping its conference home opener to Fairleigh Dickinson, 80-68, despite getting a team-high 24 points from reigning NEC Player of the Week, Cane Broome. 
 

• Saturday's contest marks the 33rd all-time meeting between the Seahawks and the Pioneers, with Wagner holding a 19-13 advantage in the head-to-head matchup.
• The Green & White are 4-1 over their last five matchups with the Pioneers.
• Last year, these two squads split their regular-season meetings, with each picking up victories on their respective home courts.  
• Wagner earned a 75-64 victory back on January 29 at the Spiro Sports Center as three Seahawks finished in double figures, led by Marcus Burton's game-high 26 points. 
• In the rematch a week later, the Pioneers defeated Wagner, 86-75.

• Sacred Heart, who earned a 69-65 win over defending NEC champions, Robert Morris in the conference opener, have dropped its last two contests, most recently an 80-68 setback at Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday evening.
• The Pioneers feature four players that average double digits, led by sophomore guard Cane Broome, the reigning NEC Player of the Week, who leads the circuit in scoring at 21.8 ppg and has netted 28.7 ppg in the first three conference tilts. 
• Broome went on a scoring tear last week for the Pioneers, averaging 29.0 points on 47.0 percent shooting from the floor and 85.7 percent shooting from the line over three contests. He also contributed 6.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game. 
• In two league outings, the East Hartford, CT native has been even better, netting 31.0 ppg, including a career-high 33 points in a 69-65 win at Robert Morris on Saturday. 
• Two nights later, he tossed in a game-high 29 points, to go along with four rebounds and three assists, in an 84-80 setback at Saint Francis U. Broome scored 13 points in the final five minutes as the Pioneers nearly erased a 14-point deficit. He also tallied a game-best 25 points in a close loss at Hofstra last Monday. Broome now leads the NEC, and ranks 16th nationally, at 21.6 ppg. He also ranks third in the NEC in steals (1.9), fourth in made three-pointers (2.3/game), 10th in free throw percentage (.741) and 11th in assists (2.9).
• Quincy McKnight, a three-time NEC Rookie of the Week honoree, is averaging 12.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg and 2.7 apg in his first season as a Pioneer.
• Veterans Jordan Allen and Tevin Falzon have each provided senior leadership, as Allen is tallying 11.4 ppg and 5.0 rpg while Falzon, who has only played in nine games this season, is the team's leading rebounder at 6.7 caroms a contest while adding in 10.0 ppg. 

• Between Wagner and Sacred Heart, there are four common opponents that each has faced: Fairfield, Robert Morris, Saint Francis U and UMass Lowell.
• Wagner went 3-1 against these four opponents with the only setback occurring at Saint Francis U, 73-65
• Sacred Heart was 1-3 against these common foes, picking up a 69-65 triumph over defending conference champions, Robert Morris on January 4. 

• All-time, Wagner is 281-309 against teams in the Northeast Conference.
• The 281 wins are the fourth-highest total among the 10-team conference, trailing Robert Morris (337), Fairleigh Dickinson (312), and LIU Brooklyn (284).
• Fourth-year head coach Bashir Mason is 34-21 all-time in conference games, ranking 11th all-time in league history. 

CURRENT SEAHAWKS AGAINST SACRED HEART:

• Redshirt senior guard Dwaun Anderson (Suttons Bay, MI/Suttons Bay [Michigan State]) along with junior forward Greg Senat (Elmont, NY/Elmont [Marianapolis Prep]), have experience against the Pioneers. Anderson will be playing in his fourth contest while Senat, if/when he checks into the contest, will be seeing Sacred Heart for the fifth time in his career.
• Sophomore guard JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) is averaging 12.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.5 apg against Sacred Heart while shooting 50.0 from the field and the outside. 
• Redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan [University of Rhode Island]) is averaging 10.0 ppg and 11.0 rpg coming off the bench against the Pioneers. In the January 29th meeting, Aaman finished with nine points and pulled down 14 rebounds in 19 minutes of work. 

CAREY'S A DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE:

• Junior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) recorded his team-leading fourth double-double of the season, as the first-year Seahawk scored 10 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in a 65-56 victory over Bryant on January 7.
• Carey is currently tied with Robert Morris' Rodney Pryor for fourth among all-NEC players this season. Saint Francis U's Ronnie Drinnon, LIU Brooklyn's Jerome Frink, and Central Connecticut's Brandon Peel has five double-doubles on the year. 
• Below are Carey's four double-double performances, in which he is he is averaging 12.8 ppg and 13.0 rpg when he produces a double-double:

HOME SWEET HOME:

• Wagner is 6-0 at the Spiro Sports Center this season, matching the mark set by the 2011-2012 squad, led by former head coach Dan Hurley when his Seahawks went 6-0. 
• Under head coach Bashir Mason, the Seahawks are 35-11 at the Spiro Sports Center. 
• All-time, Wagner is 146-76 since the Spiro Sports Center opened on February 20, 1999, in which the Seahawks played Fairleigh Dickinson to a 78-56 victory. 
• This season, Wagner is outscoring their opponents by 11.5 points (71.3-to-59.8) while holding a +9.7 on the glass (41.2-to-31.5). 
• Despite shooting just 28.4 percent from the outside, Wagner has found a way to make the most of their chances from the charity stripe, converting 77.9 of its attempts from the line.  
• Sophomore guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) is one of three Seahawks to average double-figures at the Spiro Sports Center.  
• The second-year guard is averaging 15.2 ppg while shooting 45.9 percent from the field and 47.1 percent from long range. Additionally, Henson is 90.5 percent from the free-throw line (19-of-21). 
• Redshirt senior guard Dwaun Anderson (Suttons Bay, MI/Suttons Bay [Michigan State]) is averaging 29.7 minutes a contest at home while also shooting 90.0 percent from the free-throw line (27-of-30). Anderson, who missed all but one game last season, has tallied 13.0 ppg at home this season to go along with 5.5 rpg and a team-leading nine blocks, including a career-high four rejections against Bryant on January 7.
• Junior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) has found a new "home" on Staten Island. In six games this season, Carey is averaging a double-double, with 11.2 ppg and a team-leading 10.7 rpg.  
• The talented 6-5 guard set a new career-high on January 7 against Bryant, grabbing 15 rebounds in the 65-56 victory over the Bulldogs. 12 of those rebounds came on the defensive end. 

250 WAYS FOR ANDERSON TO REBOUND:

• Physically, redshirt senior guard Dwaun Anderson had to "rebound" after suffering a season-ending injury a year ago after playing in just one game. 
• This year, the athletic 6-4 guard has done an excellent job rebounding the ball. Against Bryant on January 7, he corralled eight caroms in the contest, giving the Suttons Bay, Michigan native 250 for his career. 
• Anderson has nabbed 184 defensive rebounds, his highest total coming in his sophomore year as Anderson finished with 66 caroms. 

UP NEXT FOR WAGNER: 

• Four of the next five games for the Wagner men's basketball team will be on Staten Island at the Spiro Sports Center, beginning on January 14 when the Seahawks take on the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds.  Tip-off is schedule for 7:00 pm.