The Fairleigh Dickinson Knights came back after trailing most of the first half to rally in the second and defeat the Wagner Seahawks 86-79 in Staten Island to win this year’s Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament and punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament next week. Sophomore Darian Anderson led Fairleigh Dickinson with 28 points while Earl Potts Jr. chipped in 27 points of his own.
The Knights got off to a rough start, trailing by as many as 11 points early on, but rallied well enough to finish with a team field goal percentage of nearly 51 percent while also shooting 47 percent from long range. Fairleigh Dickinson’s defense was also on-point as Wagner shot just 17 percent from long range and could not get the offense rolling in the second half.
As a result of this strong performance, Fairleigh Dickinson will head to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005, the last time in won an NEC title. Considering how this is only the Knights’ third season under coach Greg Herenda, who has taken the program from a sub-.500 squad to a contender in that short an amount of time.
Be sure to stay tuned to Campus Sports for further updates from Fairleigh Dickinson’s path to the NCAA Tournament!
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
