Pictured Above: Junior guard
Jeff Coulanges who tossed in 10 points to go with a career-high 10 rebounds (Photo: Adrienne Terzuoli)
Staten Island, NY - Redshirt junior guard
Romone Saunders scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while junior guard
Jeff Coulanges recorded his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, but it was not enough as NJIT overcame a 12-point first-half deficit in earning a 71-60 victory over Wagner on Tuesday night at the Spiro Sports Center.
With the loss, which snapped a Seahawks two-game winning streak and comes on the heels of an impressive 79-73 road win at Fairfield on Saturday, Wagner falls to 2-3. With the victory, the Highlanders, who compete in the A-Sun Conference, improve their season record to 5-1.
With Wagner on top by a 20-15 count with four minutes left in the opening, half, the Seahawks embarked on a an 11-4 burst, capped by a three-point jumper by redshirt junior forward
Lonnie Rivera off a feed from sophomore guard
Tyler Plummer, in taking their biggest lead of the game at 31-19 with 1:14 remaining in the half.
The Highlanders ended the half with a spark, however, putting together 6-0 spurt, capped by a Zach Cooks layup with one second left, in cutting the deficit to 31-25 at the break.
Wagner opened an 11-point lead at the 17:16 mark of the second half as a Saunders three-pointer gave the Seahawks a 37-26 bulge with a three-ball. This would prove to be the Seahawks' largest lead of the second half, however, as the Highlanders methodically pecked away at the Wagner lead, outscoring the Seahawks 21-8 over a nearly nine-minute stretch. When NJIT guard Shyquan Gibbs knifed his way through the lane for a layup at the 8:52 mark, the visitors were back in the lead for the first time since early in the half, up by a 47-45 count.
This was a lead that NJIT would not relinquish the rest of the way. A 13-5 run, capped by a one-of-two trip to the line by Mohamed Bendary, pushed the lead to double digits at 60-50 with less than three minutes left and Wagner could get no closer than nine points the rest of the way.
In the decisive second half, NJIT enjoyed a 52 percent to 27 percent edge in shooting, outscoring the Seahawks 46-29 over the game's final 20 minutes in winning by an 11-point count. For the game, Wagner was charged with a season-high 36 personal fouls while the Highlanders were whistled for just 22 fouls.
While Saunders and Coulanges were the lone Seahawks in double figures, the Green & White did receive six-point efforts by a trio of players in Rivera, freshman guard
Jonathan Norfleet, and senior guard
Elijah Davis.
For NJIT, Cooks led three players in double figures with 22 points, while Diandre Wilson and Gibbs added 17 and 13 points, respectively.
Wagner is next in action on Saturday, November 24 when the Seahwks host the Rider University Broncs of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in a 2:00 p.m. start.
NOTES: Tonight's loss marked Wagner's first regular season home loss at the Spiro Sports Center since February 25, 2017 when the Seahawks dropped an 88-84 decision to LIU Brooklyn. In 2017-18, Wagner reeled off a program-record 16 consecutive home wins before falling in the 2018 NEC Championship game to those same LIU Blackbirds by a 71-61 count.
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Men's Basketball:
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