Staten Island, NY -  The Northeast Conference's (NEC) 33-game TV slate is set to open with a marquee matchup on Thursday night, as the Wagner men's basketball team will look to avenge its defeat in last season's championship game by hosting the defending league champions, the Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights on CBS Sports Network. The two teams split their regular season meetings last year by winning on each other's home court. They met for the third time on Staten Island in the championship game held at the Spiro Sports Center, in which the Seahawks couldn't capture the program's second title despite holding a 35-33 halftime advantage. Thursday's game also pits the NEC's two preseason favorites, as the Knights were picked first ahead of Wagner in the annual coaches' poll. 

Series History:  The Seahawks and Knights are meeting for the 104th time, with the Green & White holding a 52-51 edge in the head-to-head series. All-time, Wagner is 27-21 at home against Fairleigh Dickinson. The first home game the Green & White played at the Spiro Sports Center was against the Knights back on February 20, 1999, in which the Seahawks earned a 78-56 victory. Wagner Hall of Famer Frantz Pierre-Louis poured in a game-high 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor, which included 6-of-10 from the free-throw line in 29 minutes of action. Frank DeBlasi was the only other Seahawk in double-figures, adding 19 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond-the-arc in 33 minutes of action.  Last season marked the second time that the Seahawks and Knights met in the league finale and the first since the 2005 season in which FDU won 58-52 in Hackensack/Teaneck, NJ.

The Coaches: Wagner's Bashir Mason is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Seahawks, owning a career record of 76-62. Mason is 7-2 all-time against Fairleigh Dickinson, suffering both setbacks last season. Fairleigh Dickinson's Greg Herenda is in his fourth season and is 161-138 in his coaching career and 40-66 as the head coach of the Knights. Herenda is just 2-6 all-time against the Seahawks. 
 

Scouting The Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights: The defending NEC champions enter play with an overall record of 4-9 and are atop of the league standings after the opening week at 2-0. FDU finished its non-league games with a record of 2-9, with wins coming against Division III-rival, Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham back on Nov. 15 (96-48) and a 90-72 triumph over Lipscomb back on November 19 in the Johnny Bach Classic held at Fordham University. In its most recent outing, the Knights rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit by edging the Robert Morris University Colonials, 81-77 at Stratis Arena on Saturday afternoon. Darian Anderson, who was named the league's Player of the Week, led four Knights' in double-figures with a game-high 26 points on 8-of-19 shooting from the floor while connecting on 8-of-9 from the free-throw line in 37 minutes of play. Darnell Edge chipped in 18 points while shooting 6-of-11 from the field in 25 minutes off-the-bench while Earl Potts, Jr. and Stephan Jiggetts each had 14 with Potts Jr., pulling down five caroms in the victory. Four Knights' are scoring in double-digits, led by Anderson's team-high 19.5 ppg, which is second in the league (Nisre Zouzoua of Bryant is the league leader at 21.4 ppg). In 13 games, Anderson is logging 34.0 minutes a game while shooting 44.9 percent from the floor, 41.4 percent from three-point range and 88.9 percent from the free-throw line. Jiggetts is the team's second-leading scorer at 13.2 ppg while dishing out 4.69 assists per game (2nd in the NEC behind Ikenna Ndugba of Bryant). Mike Holloway and Potts, Jr. round out the quartet, producing 11.7 and 10.0 points, respectively with Potts pulling down a team-leading 5.3 rebounds a contest.

Last Time Against The Knights (3/8/16):  The No. 1 seeded Wagner men's basketball team's hopes for the program's second-ever Northeast Conference (NEC) title came to an end as the Seahawks fell to the No. 2 seed, Fairleigh Dickinson, 87-79, in front of jam-packed crowd of 2,358, crowd at the Spiro Sports Center. Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto]) posted his 15th double-double of the season, finishing with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Additionally, the junior guard dished out a career-high five assists in 38 minutes of action.  Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) tallied a team-leading 24 points, one short of his career high, on 9-of-16 shooting from the field while logging 35 minutes of play.  For Henson, it marked the fifth 20-point performance of his career and second in the last the five games.  Forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan [University of Rhode Island]) was the third Seahawk in double figures, concluding the championship game with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting while pulling down eight caroms and rejecting two shots in 22 minutes.  Earl Potts Jr., who was named 2016 NEC Tournament MVP, and Darian Anderson combined for 55 points on a combined 19-of-35 shooting from the field. Anderson finished with a game-high 28 points on 8-of-16 shooting, which included 10-of-11 from the free throw line. Potts, Jr., chipped in 27 points and a team-best seven rebounds on 11-of-19 shooting including shooting a 50.0 percent clip (4-of-8) from beyond the arc.

Common Thread: Other than being charter members of the NEC, the Seahawks and Knights have a few things in common:

• While an assistant coach at East Carolina, FDU head coach Greg Herenda try to recruit Wagner's head coach Bashir Mason to play at East Carolina. Mason ultimately went to Drexel University. 
• Fairleigh Dickinson's assistant coach, Dwayne Lee, was a graduate manager for the Wagner Seahawks (2012-13).
• Wagner's Associate Head Coach Mike Babul and FDU's Winston Smith were teammates at the University of Massachusetts from 1996-to-2000. 

Up Next For Wagner: The Seahawks close out its mini two game homestand as they welcome the Sacred Heart University Pioneers to Staten Island on Saturday, January 7th with a 4:00 p.m. tipoff.