By Anthony Covino
Sports Editor
FDU beat Wagner 106-73 in a blowout win setting a new record for made three pointers in a game with 16. They also recorded 26 assists. The Knights have improved to 7-16 with a 5-7 record in the NEC, while Wagner fell to 5-18 with a 2-10 record in the NEC.
The Knights now sit seventh in the NEC, while Wagner is in tenth in the NEC. The Knights currently hold the 6 seed in the NEC tournament and would play Sacred Heart if the NEC tournament were to begin today. The Knights are the 6 seed due to Merrimack being unable to participate in postseason play due to moving up to D1 this year.
“I’m just so happy, quietly we’ve won four of our last seven,” FDU head coach Greg Herenda said. “We’ve been working. We’re defending. We were running well, we had a week off. We were rested. We broke a record for threes. Everyone performed well. Jahlil [Jenkins] has 31 points, 7 assists, and 5 steals. He was awesome. Also, we honored all the athletes tonight. Our team had six scholar athletes.”
The previous record for three pointers was 15 shots against Central Connecticut State on Feb. 21, 2001. FDU lost 86-80 on the day however.
Jenkins, preseason All NEC junior guard, led the way for the Knights with a career high 31 points. Jenkins became the first player nationally over the last decade to score at least 31 points, have 7 assists, and 5 steals while shooting 80% or better from the field, FDU said.
This is the first time the Knights have scored over 100 points against D1 opposition since they beat LIU Brooklyn 101-95 in the 2015-2016 season.
The 106 points scored is the most scored since they scored 111 against D3 FDU-Florham in 2018 and the most in D1 since they scored 106 against Central Connecticut State on Dec. 22 in the 1990-1991 season.
Junior forward Elyjah Williams and sophomore guard Brandon Powell both had 16 points. Freshman guard Devon Dunn had 14 points and freshman guard Brandon Rush had 13 points. Senior forward Kaleb Bishop scored 9 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, and a had a career high 5 assists. Redshirt junior guard Xzavier Malone-Key had a night to forget as he had 0 points on 0-3 shooting from the field and from three.
FDU shot 36-60 (60%) from the field, 16-31 (51.6%) from three, and 18-21 (85.7%) from the free-throw line.
Wagner shot 28-70 (40%) from the field, 8-29 (27.6%) from the three, and 9-10 (90%) from the free-throw line.
FDU will travel to play Robert Morris for the first time this season on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 1 p.m. while Wagner will travel to play Merrimack on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 4 p.m.
The Equinox Staff
