Staten Island, NY – Senior guard
Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas / Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) poured in a career-high 32 points and grabbed ten rebounds to will the No. 3-seeded Wagner men's basketball team to a thrilling 72-70 win over sixth-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson to advance to the semifinals of the Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament in front a loud and spirited crowd of 1,514 fans at the Spiro Sports Center.
Wagner's victory, coupled with No. 2 Seed LIU Brooklyn's 69-68 upset home loss to No. 7 Robert Morris, means that No. 3 seed Wagner will host No. 4 seed Saint Francis U on Saturday at noon. In the other semifinal, No. 1 seed Mount St. Mary's, which eked out a 70-67 win over No. 8 seed Sacred Heart tonight, will host No. 7 seed Robert Morris at 2:00 p.m. Additionally, tonight's victory marked Wagner's first win as a No. 3 seed in the NEC Tourney and makes it five of the last six years that the Seahawks have moved on to the semifinals.
In leading the Seahawks to a rousing victory over the defending NEC champions, the 6-5 Carey recorded his 11th double-double of the season and 26th of his two-year career. Carey's 32-point effort marked the first time a Seahawk eclipsed the 30-point plateau since former Seahawk Marcus Burton ['14] dropped 38 points vs. Mount St. Mary's back on January 5, 2015. In addition to Carey's career-night, fellow All-League honoree, junior guard
Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD / DeMatha Catholic) finished with 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting from three-point range. Redshirt sophomore forward
AJ Sumbry (East Windsor, NJ / St. Benedict's Prep / Quinnipiac) muscled his way for 11 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots off the bench, matching a career-high in points.
"Wagner-FDU, what other way to start the conference tournament? What other way for the game to end? A back and forth battle, a grind, a beautiful March basketball game that I, as a coach, am excited to be a part of," said Wagner fifth-year head coach
Bashir Mason. "FDU is a great, great team, a championship-caliber team and I am excited and happy that we were able to score one more basket than these guys and advance to the next round of the conference tournament. It was fun, it was exciting, and it was a great game to be a part of, there was a lot of energy in the building," said Henson. "FDU is a great opponent, so we know every time we play them we have to be ready to play. It's just a good tournament college basketball game."
"It was a nerve-racking game," added Carey. "I just tried to keep my cool. It was a tough-fought battle, Darian Anderson, he's something else, all of them are actually, and it was nerve-racking honestly, I just tried to keep my cool."
Stephan Jiggetts paced four Knights in double figures with 22 points, his backcourt mate Darian Anderson contributed 19 points while Earl Potts, Jr. and Mike Holloway added 16 and 11 points, respectively.
"I can't believe that four years is over, but in that time we've developed the Fairleigh-Wagner game into an incredible rivalry quickly," said Fairleigh Dickinson head coach Greg Herenda. "I just spoke with Bashir (Mason) and Walt (Hameline), and I told them it was just an honor to play in this game. That was just a great college basketball game... Obviously I'm not happy that we lost, but we've won it. I don't know if I can say this, but I'm pulling for Wagner," he added. "I feel like there is a kinship and brotherhood between myself and Bashir and Wagner and Fairleigh Dickinson. It's good, clean, hard-nosed basketball... Last year, in the championship game here, we were fortunate to win, and we've won a few times here.
Michael Carey did not want to end his career tonight. And we don't have a senior that played, we're still a young program," Herenda concluded.
Wagner opened the game on a 16-4 run as the Seahawks converted on 70.0 percent of their field goal attempts while holding the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights to a 1-of-7 start from the field. The run featured balanced scoring as six different Seahawks recorded a point, led by Carey, the All-NEC First-Teamer, who had five points. The defending league champions got back into the contest on the strength of a 25-17 outburst with the Knights forcing five Seahawk turnovers during the stretch. Potts Jr. and Jiggetts combined for 17 of the 25 points as the visitors trailed 33-29 with just 1:56 to go before the break.
Wagner closed out the stanza scoring five of the final eight points to take a 38-32 lead into the break. FDU's Jiggetts sank a potential buzzer-beater to trim down to 38-35, but the referees reviewed the play and disallowed the field goal, determining that the shot came fractions of a second late. Carey led the way a perfect shooting half, totaling 17 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field, which included three jumpers from beyond the arc. Henson, who was named to the NEC Second Team earlier this week, netted eight points while freshman guard
Connor Ferrell (Conyers, GA / Rockdale County / DME Sports Academy) chipped in four points and four helpers. Jiggetts connected on a long three-pointer at the 10:46 mark to give the Knights their first lead of the game, 54-53. FDU took its largest lead of the contest, 60-56, with 8:13 left to go after Holloway powered in a layup off the feed from Jiggetts.
Henson responded with a left-wing three that brought the Seahawks within one, 60-59. Classmate
JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) hit a pair of free throws that put Wagner ahead before Anderson drew contact and was able to complete the traditional three-point play, putting FDU back up two, 63-61. Anderson put the Knights ahead, 70-67, with another difficult jumper in the paint. Henson again answered back with his fourth three-pointer of the night, tying the game up at 70-70 with 2:45 before Cooper eventually won the game after grabbing the offensive board off his missed shot and put it back with 1:41 left. Anderson had a shot to win in with 2.4 seconds, but his corner three was off the mark, ending the Knights' three-game win streak over Wagner.
Wagner held a 37-36 advantage on the boards while capitalizing off second chance opportunities, 24-18 and outscoring the Knights' bench, 11-2.
