New Britain, CT -  The Wagner men's basketball team opens the final month of the Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season on a four-game road trip, beginning Thursday night in New Britain, CT as they take on the Central Connecticut Blue Devils at Detrick Gymnasium. The Seahawks split their most recent two-game homestand, earning a thrilling 66-64 victory over cross-borough rivals, St. Francis Brooklyn, on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Devils are looking for back-to-back wins for the first time under first-year head coach Donyell Marshall, after defeating the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds, 61-52, on Saturday afternoon in New Britain, CT. The Green & White will look for the season sweep of the Blue Devils after defeating CCSU, 71-46, back on December 29 in their conference home opener. 

All-Time Series: Thursday' contest is the 44th all-time meeting between the Seahawks and Blue Devils, with Wagner leading the head-to-head series, 24-19. The Green & White are looking for the regular season sweep of the Blue Devils for the third time in the last four years, after earning a 71-46 victory back on December 29, as the two teams kicked off conference play. Wagner is just 2-8 in their last ten trips to New Britain, CT despite taking last season's matchup, 83-57. The Seahawks will look for its third five-game winning streak against CCSU and the first since rattling off five straight from February 14, 2013 through March 5, 2014. 

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 80-66 and a conference-record of 50-30. Mason is 8-3 all-time against the Blue Devils. First-year CCSU head coach Donyell Marshall, enters tonight's contest with a record of 4-17 and 2-8 in league play.

Last Time Out Against Central Connecticut (12/29/16): Junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) was one of four Seahawks to score in double-figures, as the Wagner men's basketball team defeated the Central Connecticut State University Blue Devils, 71-46, in the Northeast Conference (NEC) opener. The 2015-16 NEC regular-season champions improved to 5-6 on the year while the Blue Devils fell to 2-10 on the season. In addition to Henson's double-digit performance, fellow backcourt teammate JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) chipped in 13 points in 23 minutes of action while converting on 5-of-9 from the field. Freshman sharpshooter Blake Francis (Herndon, VA/Westfield) caught fire off-the-bench, tallying 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond-the-arc in his 23 minutes of play. Redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan [University of Rhode Island]) was the fourth Seahawk to post double-figures, finishing with 12 points, which included 6-of-8 from the free-throw line in his 17 minutes of action.

Scouting The Central Connecticut Blue Devils: The Central Connecticut Blue Devils, who enter play at 4-17, 2-8 in NEC play, picked up their first conference win of the season in dramatic fashion against Saint Francis U back on January 21. Khalen Cumberlander hit the game-winning three-pointer with 2.5 seconds to play in overtime to give the Central Connecticut men's basketball team an 84-83 win over Saint Francis U.  Cumberlander finished with 19 points and became the 36th player in program-history to reach 1,000 career points with the game-winning shot. After falling at home to Bryant, 65-54 back on January 25, the Blue Devils earned its second conference win of the season, a 61-52 over LIU Brooklyn in which Austin Nehls scored a game-high 20 points on Alumni Day. For the season, Nehls, Cumberlander, and Mustafa Jones are all scoring in double-figures with Nehls netting 14.1 ppg, which is fifth in the league while Cumberlander is among the top-20 at 12.8 a contest. In their first meeting back on 12/29/16, Jones was the lone Blue Devil in double-figures, scoring 16 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor. Nehls & Cumberlander were held to a combined a 5-of-16 shooting, 1-of-6 from 3PT range while scoring 15 points together.

At Its Core; Henson Within 23 Off 1,000 Career Points: Junior guard Corey Henson is closing in on becoming the 43rd member of the 1,000 career points club as he enters the Central Connecticut contest with 986 career points. The last member to join the Wagner 1,000 point club was guard Marcus Burton ['14].

Wagner Rewind: St. Francis Brooklyn (1/28/17): With just seven seconds to go in regulation, junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) found space and hit a driving layup, which proved to be the game-winner, as the Wagner men's basketball team defeated cross-borough Northeast Conference (NEC) rival, St. Francis Brooklyn, 66-64, on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Seahawks improved to 9-11 on the season and evened their conference record at 5-5 while the Terriers fall to 4-19 on the year and 2-8 in league play. Additionally, the victory marked the 80th career win for fifth-year head coach Bashir Mason, who also earned his 50th NEC victory. Redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/ Raritan/Rhode Island) tossed in a game-high 19 points on just 4-of-9 shooting while converting on 11-of-13 from the free-throw line. Aaman also grabbed nine rebounds and swatted away two shots in his 31 minutes of action. Senior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) produced his 22nd career double-double, finishing the ballgame with 15 points and a game-best 11 caroms en route to posting his seventh of the season. With the game-winner under his belt, Henson finished with nine points while grabbing five rebounds and rejecting two shots. Sophomore guard Devin Liggeons (Philadelphia, PA/Imhotep Charter) chipped in eight points and four rebounds in 22 minutes of action. Three Terriers finished in double-figures, led by a Yunus Hopkinson's team-high 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting while converting 4-of-6 from beyond-the-arc. Rasheem Dunn added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds and five assists. Jagos Lasic had a career afternoon, scoring ten points and dishing out three assists in 24 minutes of play. 

Swat Team: For the seventh time this season, the Wagner Seahawks rejected five or more shots in a contest. Against St. Francis Brooklyn (1/28/17), the Green & White sent away a total of seven Terrier shots, with two rejections coming off the hands of redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan [University of Rhode Island]) and junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic). 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 denied five shots against Robert Morris in the 2016 Northeast Conference (NEC) quarterfinals (3/2/16).  Sumbry is denying 1.32 shots a contest and has 25 rejections on the season, which is good for third in the NEC.  

Double Trouble: The Seahawks have posted at least one double-double in 11 of its 20 games this season.

Simply Mr. Double-Double: Versatile 6-5 guard Michael Carey has notched 22 career double-doubles, the most recent coming in Wagner's thrilling 66-64 home victory over St. Francis Brooklyn (1/28/17) in which the 6-5 guard scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Since the 1997-98 season, Carey is just the sixth Seahawk to record double-digit double-doubles and only the fourth player in the program during this time to record 20 or more double-doubles for a career.

Controlling The Glass: Wagner has outrebounded its opponents in 15 of 20 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. The Seahawks rank first in rebounding offense (39.3) and rebounding defense (31.1) and are outmuscling their opponents by +8.2 in the Northeast Conference. 

Second Chances: The Seahawks are thriving off second chance opportunities. For the season, Wagner is averaging 14.3 points off second chances while their opponents are tallying 8.3 points (287-167).

At The Half: When leading at the half under fifth-year Bashir Mason, the Seahawks have posted an overall record of 60-12. This season, the Green & White have entered the intermission with the lead in 13 of the 20 games (7-6 record in these games.)

Three-Ball Galore: The men's basketball team have connected on at least one made three-pointer in 388 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 Wagner men's basketball continues its road trip as they travel to Hackensack/Teaneck, NJ to tangle with defending league champions, Fairleigh Dickinson, on Saturday morning. Saturday's contest, which will be broadcasted on ESPNU at 11:00 a.m., is the second meeting of the year between the two squads after the Knights defeated the Seahawks, 70-69 back on January 5 on CBS Sports Network.