Men’s Basketball Drops 62-38 Decision At Sacred Heart

Fairfield, CT – E.J. Anosike scored 16 points to lead three players in double figures and the Sacred Heart defense did the rest as the Pioneers earned a 62-38 victory over Wagner on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Monday afternoon at the William H. Pitt Center, gaining a split of the season series in the process. With the loss, the Green & White fall to 8-9 overall on the season and 3-3 in Northeast Conference (NEC) play while SHU improved to 8-11 and 4-2 in league play. Wagner, the top defensive team in the NEC, displayed its usual gritty brand of "D" today but could not get anything going offensively. Redshirt senior guard Romone Saunders led the Seahawks with 12 points but it wasn't enough to overcome a cold shooting day as the Seahawks, who defeated SHU 79-76 at the Spiro Sports Center back on January 10, shot just 18 percent (11-of-61) from the floor overall for the game. Wagner was slightly better from three-point range, finishing at 20 percent (5-of-25) from deep. Unlike in that first meeting between these teams when the Seahawks raced out to a 14-2 lead, it was Sacred Heart who came out hot this time, jumping out to an 18-3 lead. SHU took a 32-15 lead into halftime and the teams essentially traded basket over the course of the second half. Sean Hoehn and Aaron Clarke were the other double-digit scorers for SHU today, finishing with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Helping to spearhead the Pioneer's defensive effort was 6-10 forward Jar'el Spellman, who was active all afternoon in coming up with nine blocked shots to go with eight points and eight rebounds. Kareem Ozier was SHU's leading rebounder on the afternoon with nine. Saunders was the lone Seahawk to hit for double figures on this day and has now scored 10 or more points in 16 straight games since opening the season with a seven-point effort at Seton Hall (11/6). Redshirt senior forward AJ Sumbry finished with eight points and a team-high seven rebounds, while senior guard Elijah Davis added seven. Supplying a spark off the bench for Wagner late was freshman forward Tyrone Nesby IV, who knocked down a pair of three-pointers in finishing with six points. Sacred Heart's win this afternoon snapped a six-game Wagner winning streak in the series. In what was the 40th all-time meeting between the schools, the Seahawks lead in the all-time series was trimmed to 25-15.