Washington, DC – The Wagner men's basketball team withstood an early deficit in picking up a 73-65 road victory at American University on Tuesday night.  With the win, the Seahawks stop a two-game skid and stand at 2-2 while the Eagles remain winless on the young season, falling to 0-4. 

For the third straight game, at least three Seahawks finished in double-figures, led by senior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]), who tallied a team-best 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting in 35 minutes. The senior guard also went 6-of-8 from the line while grabbing five rebounds. Junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) poured in 18 points off the bench on 6-of-9 shooting in 34 minutes.  For the second consecutive game, fellow classmate JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) recorded a double-double, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds while dishing out a game-high six assists.  

"We're making the adjustments," said head coach Bashir Mason to Cormac Gordon of the Staten Island Advance after the game. "Guys are getting more accustomed to what their roles are going to be, and I thought we responded well tonight."

American was led by Sa'eed Nelson's game-high 24 points in 40 minutes of action.  Mark Gasperini was the only other Eagle to reach double-digits, netting 19 points while grabbing eight caroms.   

Gasperini top-of-the-key three-pointer gave the home team an early 14-13 advantage and sparked a 10-2 run that carried the Eagles to a 24-15 lead with 8:04 remaining in the first half. 
The Seahawks then displayed tremendous poise and resiliency in countering with a 16-7 run of their own in taking a 34-31 lead into the intermission. Carey led the Seahawks in the first half with eight first-half points while Henson had seven.

Delante Jones gave American a brief lead by nailing a three-pointer with 18:11 left to put the Eagles in front, 39-37. Henson answered with a three of his own, off a feed from sophomore guard Devin Liggeons (Philadelphia, PA / Imhotep Charter) at the 17:40 mark, which gave the Green & White the lead for good at 40-39. 

The three-pointer by Henson kicked off a pivotal 11-0 run over the next five minutes that carried Wagner to a 48-39 lead with 12:40 to go. the Seahawk run ended on a pair of free throws by Nelson, cutting the lead to just seven at 48-41 game.  Nelson was once again the catalyst for the Eagles' offense as an old-fashion three-point play at the 12:20 mark, snapped a near six-minute field goal drought by American, trimming the deficit to 48-44. 

When Leon Tolksdorf drained a three-pointer with 7:46 to play, the Eagles were within two at 55-53. But once again, the trademark Seahawk defense went to work and Wagner heated up from the field, embarking on a 9-0 run, capped by Carey slam dunk with 5:06 to play.

With Wagner now holding a comfortable nine-point lead, at 62-53, the Eagles called a timeout with 4:54 left but never threatened again as the Green & White went to record the 73-65 win. For the game, Wagner shot 50.0 percent from the field while scoring 40 of its 73 points inside-the-paint. The Seahawks' reserves played a pivotal role in the victory, outscoring the Eagles, 23-0, holding their bench to 0-4 from the field and 0-3 from beyond the arc. 

Wagner returns to the friendly confines of the Spiro Sports Center on Saturday, November 26 when the Seahawks host the Rider University Broncs of the MAAC in a 4:00 p.m. tip in a game that will be streamed live on necfrontrow.com.