Staten Island, NY - The Wagner College men's basketball team dropped to 0-2 in Northeast Conference (NEC) play after suffering a 71-59 loss to FDU on Sunday afternoon at the Spiro Sports Center.

The Seahawks jumped to a 17-4 run to start prior to the first media timeout. During the run, Graduate student Zae Blake scored five points during the run to help catalyze the Seahawks' offense early in the game.

During the early run, Wagner saw points scored by a variety of different players, including Blake, freshman Zavier Fitch, senior Di'Andre Howell-South, junior Keyontae Lewis, and senior Zaire Williams.

FDU would proceed to go onto a 22-4 run to end the first half. Sophomore guard Terrence Brown led the Knights with nine points in the first half.

Blake led the Seahawks with seven first half points as Wagner went into the locker room with a three point deficit, 24-21. 

In the second half, FDU started with a three-point field goal made by graduate student guard Ahmed Barba-Bey, the Knights would take the lead and never looked back. The Knights would go on to lead by 16 points in the last four minutes of the game.

FDU shot an impressive 58% from field goal range in the second half while the Seahawks shot 39% from the field throughout the same span. 

The Knights would go on to win their first conference game of the season against the Seahawks thanks to a 47-point second half. 

Brown led all FDU scorers with 28, including 19 points in the second half alone. Graduate student forward Bismark Nsiah finished with a near triple-double - 11 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists.

For the Seahawks, Blake scored 20 points off the bench. This is his fourth consecutive game in which the D.C. native has scored in double-digits. 

Williams followed suit with 18 points with 14 in the second half. Fitch scored nine points, Howell-South added eight, and Lewis chipped in four to round out the scoring for the Seahawks.

As a team, Wagner outscored FDU on points off turnovers, 21-6. The Seahawks bench also outscored the Knights, 29-20.

However, the Knights outscored the Seahawks, 50-32, in points in the paint.

Overall, the Knights shot an efficient 52% from the field while the Seahawks shot 31% from the field. 

Next up, Wagner will travel to New Britain, CT to face off against NEC favorite CCSU on Friday, January 10. Tip-off is set for 7:00pm.