Staten Island, NY – Following the Thanksgiving holiday, the Wagner men's basketball team returns home to the Spiro Sports Cente, as it welcomes its second Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) opponent of the season, the Rider University Broncs. Both teams enter play with identical 2-2 records, with the Seahawks earning an eight-point victory on the road at American on November 22 while the Broncs will look to snap a two-game skid, falling by 11 on the road at Atlantic 10 member, Fordham, on Wednesday afternoon.

Series History: The all-time series between Wagner and Rider favors the Broncs at 17-5 and is the sixth meeting between the schools since Rider moved to the MAAC in 1997, with the Broncs holding a 4-1 edge.

All-Time Against The MAAC: Wagner is 96-209 all-time against the current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).  The only school the Seahawks haven't played from the league is Canisius.  Marist, Monmouth, Quinnipiac, Rider, and Siena were all original members of the Northeast Conference before accepting the move to the MAAC in 1984 (Siena), 1997 (Marist, Rider) and 2013 (Monmouth, Quinnipiac).  Wagner is .500 or better against two schools from the conference: Niagara (1-1) and Quinnipiac (16-13). Rider is the second of three MAAC schools Wagner will see this year (Fairfield, Rider, Monmouth).

The Last Meeting (Dec. 8, 2015): Dwaun Anderson (Suttons Bay, MI/Suttons Bay [Michigan State]) soared high to slam home a game-winning, one-handed put-back jam off a missed jumper by Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) to give Wagner a stirring 65-64 road victory over Rider back on December 8.  Henson scored 13 points to pace Wagner offensively while Anderson added 12. Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) and former Seahawk Japhet Kadji added 11 apiece for Wagner.  Kadji made a layup and a three-pointer while Henson hit two free-throws to put Wagner up 61-56 with 2:47 left. Rider's Kahlil Thomas and Xavier Lundy each made a pair of free throws to pull the Broncs within one more than a minute later.  After a 10-foot jumper by Anderson made it 63-60 with 60 seconds to play, Lundy made back-to-back layups to give the Broncs a one-point lead with 12 seconds showing on the clock.  On Wagner's ensuing possession, Anderson had a layup blocked out of bounds with six seconds, forcing a timeout.  From underneath the Seahawk basket, Carey lofted the inbounds pass to an open Henson, whose three-pointer try bounded high off of the back of the rim.  In traffic, Anderson, soared over a host of players from both teams to slam home the putback jam. Following a Rider timeout, with two seconds to play, Rider did manage to get off a potential game-winning three-pointer by Teddy Okerafor which came up short.

Scouting The Rider University Broncs:  Predicted to finish seventh in the MAAC, the Broncs enter play on Saturday at 2-2. After securing their first two wins of the season on the road, at Hampton (11/11) and at Hartford (11/16), the Broncs have dropped back-to-back contest by an average of eight points, falling to South Florida (11/19) by five, 70-65 and most recently at Fordham by 11, 73-62 (11/23).  Kahlil Thomas compiled his second double-double of the year with 21 points and 14 points at Fordham on 10-of-14 shooting and added a team-best two steals. Jimmie Taylor added a season-high 19 points, while Xavier Lundy scored in double figures for the fourth-straight game with 10 points.  On the season, four players are averaging double-figures, led by Lundy and Thomas, both of whom are averaging 14.8 ppg. Taylor is the third-leading scorer on the squad at 12.3 ppg while Norville Carey is pouring in 10.3 points a contest. Thomas is averaging a double-double on the young season, leading the team in rebounds at 10.5 a game while Stevie Jordan has dished out a team-best 4.25 assists a contest.

Hanging With Mr. Cooper: Junior guard JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) has thrived for the Seahawks over the last three games. The third-year Seahawk is averaging 12.3 ppg, 9.7 rpg, and 6.0 apg over his last three games while shooting close to 40.0 percent from the field.  In Wagner's 73-65 road triumph at American (11/22), Cooper posted his second straight double-double of the season, pouring in 11 points and grabbing a team-high 11 caroms.

There Is No Place Like Home: Over the last five years, Wagner is 54-20 at the Spiro Sports Center.  Under fifth-year head coach Bashir Mason, the Green & White are 42-17 at home.  All-time, Wagner is 153-81 since the Spiro Sports Center opened on February 20, 1999, in which the Seahawks played Fairleigh Dickinson to a 78-56 victory.

Simply….The Shot: In what will forever be known as "The Shot," the Wagner-Rider 1993 Northeast Conference (NEC) title game brought the conference to the forefront of the college basketball world.  On March 10, at Alumni Gymnasium on the campus of Rider University, the Broncs' Darrick Suber earned a place in NEC annals and ESPN Championship Week history as Rider and Wagner battled tooth-and-nail for 39-plus minutes as Suber and the Seahawks' Bobby Hopson ('94) waged their own individual dual. With the Broncs trailing by a point in the game's waning seconds, Suber went coast-to-coast and hit an off-balance leaner just inside the free-throw line as time expired. The victory sent Rider to the Southeast Regional of the NCAA Tournament, in which they played a Kentucky team coached by Rick Pitino, who made it to the Final Four that season.

8,308 Days After The Shot, The DUNK Is Born: 22 years, 8 months and 28 days since "The Shot," Wagner got its revenge on December 8, 2015, coincidentally, at Alumni Gymnasium.  Dwaun Anderson (Suttons Bay, MI/Suttons Bay [Michigan State]) soared high to slam home a game-winning, one-handed put-back jam off a missed jumper by Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) to give Wagner a stirring 65-64 road victory over Rider back on December 8.

Up Next For Wagner: Wagner will close out the first month of the regular season on the road as they head back to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to square off against the University of Massachusetts. Tipoff from Mullins Center is set for 7:00 p.m.