Loretto, PA – The Wagner College men's basketball team picked up a 68-58 road victory at Saint Francis U to finish out the 2022-2023 regular season on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Seahawks are set to enter this year's Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament as the #5 seed and will travel to #4 Sacred Heart on Wednesday, March 1, at 7:00 PM in the NEC quarterfinal round.
On Saturday, the Seahawks were led by junior
DeLonnie Hunt's 17 points, while senior
Brandon Brown added 11 points and a team-high 15 rebounds. Sophomore
Javier Ezquerra was the third Seahawk in double figures with 10 points.
Saint Francis U's Josh Cohen led all players with 29 points, but was limited to just one field goal in the second half, as the Seahawk defense held the Red Flash to 40% (8-20) from the field in the second half.
After both teams went back and forth for the first 10 minutes of the game, Wagner orchestrated a 10-0 run to take a 27-19 lead on a
Brandon Brown three that forced the Red Flash to call for time with 7:05 to play in the first half.
A 6-0 run in the final 2:10 minutes of the first half further extended the Wagner advantage, as the Seahawks entered the half with a 38-26 lead.
Saint Francis U quickly cut its deficit down to four points to start the second half, but five straight points by Hunt brought Wagner's advantage back to double digits at 57-45 with 7:27 to play.
The Red Flash rallied and cut Wagner's lead down to 61-56 with 4:12 remaining. Both teams were unable to score for nearly three minutes, before an Ezquerra floater sealed the game for Wagner with 1:18 to play, as he gave the Seahawks a 63-58 advantage.
The Seahawks held a 38-23 advantage on the glass and outscored the Red Flash 28-20 in the paint while holding a 20-2 edge in bench points.
More information on this year's NEC Tournament will be available on wagnerathletics.com in the coming days.
