Brooklyn, NY -  On Thursday, January 19, the top two rebounding teams in Northeast Conference (NEC) will square off, as the Wagner College men's basketball team travels across the Verrazano–Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn to take on the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds at the Steinberg Wellness Center for a 7:00 p.m. tip. Both teams enter Thursday's contest following wins this past Saturday as the Green & White earned a gritty, 53-50 triumph over the Robert Morris University Colonials while LIU Brooklyn picked up its fifth straight victory, defeating St. Francis Brooklyn, 63-58.

All-Time Series History: One of the oldest rivalries renews itself on Thursday, as the Seahawks and Blackbirds are squaring off for the 103rd time, with LIU Brooklyn holding a 57-45 edge in the head-to-head meeting. All-time, Wagner is 21-28 when taking on the Blackbirds in Brooklyn.  The Green & White have won three of the last five meetings against the Blackbirds by an average of four points (73.4-69.4). These two teams squared off three times a season ago, with LIU Brooklyn taking the regular season matchups by an average of seven points (71-70 at Wagner; Jan. 14 & 82-69 at LIU; Feb. 11).  In last season's Northeast Conference (NEC) semifinals, the Seahawks avenged its setbacks, eliminating the Blackbirds by a 81-65 count. The first-ever meeting took place 37 years after the sport of basketball was invented (December 21, 1891; Springfield, Massachusetts) on Staten Island as Wagner was defeated by LIU Brooklyn, 37-30. 

The Coaches: Wagner's Bashir Mason, the 2015-16 Jim Phelan NEC Coach of the Year, is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Wagner Seahawks, owning a career record of 78-64. Mason is 7-3 all-time against the Blackbirds. LIU Brooklyn's Jack Perri, who is in his fifth season as head coach of the Blackbirds and 12th as a member of the staff, sports a career mark of 89-83 and a record of 69-74 as head coach of LIU Brooklyn. Perri is .500 against the conference with a 38-38 record. He is 3-7 all-time against the Seahawks. 

Scouting The LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds: One of the hottest teams in the Northeast Conference (NEC), the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds enter Thursday's contest riding a five-game winning streak, after defeating their local counterpart, the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers, 63-58, this past Saturday. The Blackbirds are 12-7 overall on the year and 5-1 in league play, dropping only their conference opener against Mount St. Mary's back on 12/29 at home. In Saturday's All-Brooklyn affair, four Blackbirds scored in double-figures, with three recording double-doubles. Iverson Fleming led the team in scoring with 16 points. All-NEC First Teamer Jerome Frink chipped in 15 while Nura Zanna and Jashaun Agosto each had 12 points. On the boards, Frink grabbed 12 caroms, with Zanna and Fleming each corralling 11 and 10, respectively. Thursday's contest with the Seahawks pits the top two rebounding teams, with the Green & White outrebounding its opponents by a blistering 9.2 caroms a contest. LIU Brooklyn is second at +6.2 rebounds a game. On a national level, Wagner is ranked eighth in the country in rebounding margin while the Blackbirds are 35th. Wagner and LIU Brooklyn are the only two teams in the NEC to outscore its opponents, as Wagner is outscoring their opposition by 2.4 points a game while LIU Brooklyn is at 1.5 ppg. Three players are averaging double-figures for the Blackbirds this season, led by Frink, who is tallying 17.3 ppg, good for fourth in the conference, while pulling down 9.2 caroms, second behind Wagner's Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]. Fleming is pouring in 14.3 points a contest, seventh-best in the league, and is fourth in the circuit in steals (1.63 pg). Agosto is averaging 11.1 ppg is among the top-15 in assists at 2.89 dimes a contest. As a whole, LIU Brooklyn is shooting 42.8 percent from the floor, 33.1 percent from three-point range and 64.5 percent from the charity stripe. 
 
Henson Closing In On 1,000 Points: Junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) is closing in on becoming the 43rd member of the 1,000 career points club, as he enters the Bryant contest with 934 career points. The last member to join the Wagner 1,000 point club was guard Marcus Burton ['14].

Block Party: Against Bryant (1/12/17), redshirt sophomore forward AJ Sumbry (East Windsor, NJ/St. Benedict's Prep [Quinnipiac]) swatted away a game-high five shots, three of which coming in the second half of action. The five rejections are the most in a single-game since fellow teammate Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan [University of Rhode Island]) denied five shots against Robert Morris in the 2016 Northeast Conference (NEC) quarterfinals (3/2/16). Sumbry now ranks second in the conference, behind SFU's Josh Nebo, denying 1.3 shots a contest. Sumbry has 19 rejections on the season. 

Double-Double Club: The Seahawks have posted at least one double-double in nine of its 16 games this season. Senior guard Michael Carey has five on the season, the most recent coming at home against Robert Morris (1/14/17 12 points, 13 rebounds).

Controlling the Glass: Wagner has outrebounded its opponents in 12 of 16 games this season. Against local rival, Staten Island (12/22), the Green & White outmuscled the Dolphins by a staggering 32, 58-26 in its 52-point victory (94-42). Twice this season, the Seahawks and their opponents grabbed the same amount of boards, back on Nov. 30 @ UMass (31) and most recently against Sacred Heart (1/7/17) (37). Last season, Wagner had outrebounded its opposition by double-figures in 17 games. 

Bench Pressing:  On the year, Wagner's reserves have averaged 23.2 ppg while holding its opponents to just 16.9 a contest (371-271). 

Painting A Picture: Wagner has scored 456 of its 1079 total points from inside the paint, coming out to 42.3 percent of its total scoring. For the second time this season, the Seahawks scored 40 points in the paint at Bryant (1/12/17), matching the production set on the road at American (11/22). Eight times this year, Wagner has scored at least 30 or more points from downlow after scoring 36 at home against Sacred Heart (1/7/17). 

Halftime Dominance: When leading at the half under fifth-year Bashir Mason, the Seahawks have posted an overall record of 59-11. This season, the Green & White have entered the intermission with the lead in nine of the thirteen games. 

Hitting The 3 Consecutively: The men's basketball team has connected on at least one made three-pointer in 384 straight contests. The last time the Seahawks didn't convert a three-pointer was back on February 28, 2004, at home against NEC-foe, Mount St. Mary's in which the Green & White was held to 0-of-13 from three. Against Central Connecticut (12/29), the Seahawks made a season-high 11 three-pointers.

Next Up For Wagner:  The Seahawks conclude its two game road trip in Fairfield, CT on January 21 as they conclude their regular season matchup with the Sacred Heart University Pioneers. Wagner defeated the Pioneers, 75-64, back on January 7 from the Spiro Sports Center in which junior guard Corey Henson went for a season-high 24 points while Michael Carey scored all of his 21 points in the second half to lead four players in double-figures. 

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