Pictured Above: Senior guard
Elijah Davis (photo by Adrienne Terzuoli)
Box Score
Staten Island, NY – Redshirt senior guard
Romone Saunders posted game highs with 25 points and 11 rebounds, while senior guard
Elijah Davis added 20 points. in leading the Wagner men's basketball team to its second straight wire-to-wire win, a 66-60 triumph over Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday.
The Seahawks, whose victory today comes on the heels of
Thursday night's 79-76 win over Sacred Heart, improve to 8-7 on the season and 3-1 in Northeast Conference (NEC) play while the Knights fall to 6-10 overall, 1-3 in league.
Following a similar script to the win over SHU where Wagner bolted out to a 17-2 lead, the Green & White raced out to a 14-4 lead this afternoon, buoyed by a pair of Saunders three-pointers, which grew to a 24-7 advantage midway through the half.
FDU scrapped back to make to within nine, 40-31, at the break.
Saunders led Wagner with 13 first-half points, redshirt senior forward
AJ Sumbry added seven, while junior forward
Chance Anderson and Davis chimed in with six points apiece.
From an offensive standpoint, the second half was exclusively a Saunders/Davis show as these two veteran guards combined to score all 26 of Wagner's second-half points, with Davis hitting 14 and Saunders scoring 12.
Wagner appeared to still be in control during the early part of the second half as a driving layup by Davis made it a 10-point game, at 46-36, with 15:04 to go in the game.
The Knights, who were coming off a tough 103-96 double-overtime home loss to Central Connecticut on Thursday, did not go away, and when Xzavier Malone-Key drained a three-pointer with 9:06 left, FDU was to within two at 52-50.
Saunders answered with a layup off a pretty feed from sophomore guard
Chase Freeman, to push the lead to 58-54.
With the lead again down to four, 60-56 with 4:38 left following a Malone-Key dunk, Davis countered with arguably the biggest shot of the game, a huge three-pointer off a Saunders feed at the 3:22 mark, to build the lead back to seven, 63-56, and the Seahawks were able to hang on from there.
Malone-Key, a smooth lefty guard, paced the Knights with 24 points while physical inside force Mike Holloway, Jr. came off the bench to score 19.
In racing out to a 40-31 halftime lead, the Seahawks shot 51.7 percent before cooling off to 42.1 percent following intermission to finish at 47.9 percent, while limiting FDU to 42.0 percent.
The Seahawks enjoyed an overwhelming 38-22 advantage in the rebounding department, while also holding the edge in points in the paint (28-24), second-chance points (12-10) and fast break points (10-2).
Wagner will now enjoy a rare week off as the Seahawks will next take the court on Saturday, January 19, when the Green & White conclude a stretch of four straight home games vs. Mount St. Mary's in a 4:00 p.m. tip at the Spiro Sports Center.
NOTES
With this 25 points today, Saunders is up to 1,125 career points, good for the 32
nd-place on the Wagner all-time list. In addition, Saunders became just the third player in the nation this season to finish with at least 25 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and three steals in a game.
Follow Us: #CHAOSonthehill
Wagner Athletics
Men's Basketball:
Head Coach
Bashir Mason:
