Loretto, PA - The Wagner College men's basketball team ended its matchup against Saint Francis U on a 23-4 run to secure the Seahawks' third conference win of the 2024-25 campaign.

With 7:45 remaining in the contest, the Red Flash held a 63-44 lead over the Seahawks. Saint Francis' next field goal would come with 16 seconds left in the game.

Down 19 points, Wagner put on a full-court press that halted SFU's offensive in its tracks. 

Wagner consistently turned defensive into offense, as graduate student Ja'Kair Sanchez scored seven points, senior Javier Ezquerra two three-pointers, junior Keyontae Lewis scored four points, and senior Di'Andre Howell-South scored three all unanswered by the Red Flash, who found themselves trailing by three after Sanchez scored his 11th points of the second half with 25 seconds to play. 

SFU guard Juan Crawford Jr. got a potential game-tying shot off of a missed free throw, but missed the shot as Wagner improved to 11-9 on the season with a 3-4 mark in conference play.

With the win, Wagner improves to 11-9 on the year and 3-4 in conference action.

With the loss, Saint Francis U drops to 8-14 on its 2024-25 campaign with a 3-5 NEC record. 

In a first half that saw six lead changes and four ties, SFU held a one point lead with five minutes remaining and went on a run of its own to lead, 35-25, at half. 

SFU was 7-8 from the foul line compared to Wagner's 0-2 mark from the charity stripe. SFU also shot 12.2% better from the field than Wagner before the intermission while holding a 14-6 advantage in the paint.

Zaire Williams led Wagner with eight first half points, junior R.J. Greene followed with four of his own.

In the second half, the Green & White shot 15-27 from the field (55.6%), 6-10 from three (60%), and 7-7 from the free throw line (100%), while holding SFU to 11-25 from the field (44%).

Wagner scored 13 more points off of turnovers in the second than SFU, and grabbed six more rebounds during the span.

Along with Sanchez's 11 second half points, Howell-South scored eight including a corner-three to grant Wagner the lead with less than two minutes remaining. Lewis scored seven points and Ezquerra scored six points in the second half.

The Seahawks would outscore the Red Flash 43-32 in the last 20 minutes of game action to secure a two-point win, 68-66, in Loretto.

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Wagner led for a total of just under six minutes during the entire span of the game, including for 1:17 in the second half. 

Williams finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, Sanchez and Howell-South scored 11, Lewis and Ezquerra added nine, Greene chipped in six, graduate student Zae Blake scored five, senior, Tyje Kelton scored three, as senior Churchill Bounds hit a baseline floater for his two points to round out the Seahawks in the scoring column.

Next up, Wagner will continue its road-trip in Easton, MA as the Seahawks face-off against the Stonehill Skyhawks on Thursday, January 30. Tip-off is set for 7:00 pm at Merkert Gymnasium.