Pictured Above: Senior JoJo Cooper (photo by Gabriel Rhodes) | Photo Gallery (By Gabriel Rhodes)

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Newark, NJ – The Wagner men's basketball team put forth a valiant effort against No. 23/22 Seton Hall on Wednesday night before the Pirates pulled away for an 89-68 win at the Prudential Center.
 
Senior guard JoJo Cooper, the reigning Northeast Conference (NEC) Player of the Week, paced Wagner with 15 points, 13 of which came in the first half, while freshman forward Nigel Jackson added 12.
 
Four different Seahawks wound up scoring seven points apiece in redshirt junior forward AJ Sumbry, redshirt junior guard Romone Saunders, sophomore guard Blake Francis and freshman guard Tyler Plummer.
 
It was a particularly frustrating night for Francis, who was saddled with early foul trouble. After scoring 17 or more points in Wagner's first nine games and coming off a 25-point outing at Rider on Saturday, the Seahawks' leading scorer finished the night 2-of-8 from the floor.
 
Khadeen Carrington led five Pirates in double figures with 26 points while Myles Powell and Angel Delgado added 16 and 15 points, respectively. Delgado collected ten caroms in recording a double-double and also kicked the ball out for five assists on the evening. Desi Rodriguez finished with 11 points for the Pirates while Michael Nzei added 10.
  
After Seton Hall jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, Wagner responded with back-to-back buckets from Jackson and Cooper, that trimmed the Pirates' lead to 6-4. The Hall built up a 14-point advantage on the heels of a 16-4 run over a 5:23 stretch that saw the Pirates connect on 6-of-8 from the field and 4-of-5 from long range, while holding the Seahawks to just 2-of-10 from the field and 0-of-4 from the outside.  Saunders stopped the Seton Hall run with a floater in the paint.
 
Over the next six minutes, the visitors were able to trim the deficit back to single digits after outscoring the Pirates, 20-16, with Cooper contributing seven points and the Seahawks hitting 8-of-12 from the field and 3-of-5 from the outside during this stretch.
 
Seton Hall closed out the frame on a 10-4 outburst to take a 48-34 lead into the intermission. Wagner shot 38.5 percent from the floor while the Pirates converted 54.5 percent of their shots in the opening half. The Seahawks kept it close on the board (22-19), but the Hall made the most of its chances from the free line, hitting on 6-of-9 while the Seahawks went to the just once.
 
Cooper led the way for Wagner in the first half, hitting for 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting while grabbing three rebounds and dishing out two assists, while Saunders and Jackson added five points apiece.
 
Carrington led SHU with 14 first-half points, highlighted by a 3-of-3 effort from three-point range, while Delgado added ten first-half points to go with seven rebounds.
 
Wagner was able to trim Seton Hall's lead to single-digits on two occasions when play resumed for the second half.
 
Following a Carrington three-pointer, the Seahawks scored nine of the next ten points in getting to within nine after Jackson was able to record seven of the nine Seahawk points over the 2:21 stretch.
 
Seton Hall went back up 54-43 with after Rodriguez was able to create space in the paint and bank in the layup.  For the Seahawks, Saunders was able to locate senior forward Shack Scott, who drilled the baseline jumper, bringing Seton Hall's lead back down to nine as it was the closets the visitors found themselves down the stretch.
 
For the game, Seton Hall shot 50 percent while limiting the Seahawks to 36 percent accuracy. The Pirates out-rebounded the Seahawks 45-38 and held a 44-32 edge in the paint. The Green & White held a 17-7 edge in points off turnovers and a sizeable 25-11 advantage in bench scoring.
 
Wagner closes out its non-conference schedule on Saturday, December 23, when they travel to Dayton, OH to take on Dayton of the Atlantic 10 Conference at UD Arena.
 
Tip-off between the Seahawks and Flyers is slated for 3:00 p.m. and the game will be aired on NBC Sports Network.

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