STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.— The Sacred Heart University men's basketball team fell 68-58 on the road at Wagner in Northeast Conference action on Sunday afternoon. Nico Galette led three Pioneers in double figures in the loss.  

Records:
Sacred Heart: 11-11, 4-3 NEC
Wagner: 11-7, 4-3 NEC

Top Performers:
Nico Galette: 16 points, 3 steals
Raheem Solomon: 15 points, 3 assists
Raymond Espinal-Guzman: 14 points, 7 rebounds

Of Note:
In his first career start, Tanner Thomas scored five of the Pioneers' seven points in the opening two minutes of the game to give Sacred Heart a 7-2 lead. Wagner answered with a 6-0 run, taking an 8-7 lead at 15:44. Galette made a layup at 14:26 to snap the Wagner run to give Sacred Heart its final advantage of the first half, 9-8.

The Seahawks were able to go up by as many as 11 points in the first half, but the Pioneers cut the deficit to nine, as Wagner led 33-24 at the half.

Sacred Heart opened the second half with a 6-2 run to cut the deficit to five, 35-30. Wagner responded with a 6-2 run of its own to go up by nine, 41-32, at 14:40.

Raymond Espinal Guzman made a dunk, followed by a layup with an and one, scoring the Pioneers' next five points to bring Sacred Heart within four, 41-37. For the following three minutes, Wagner held the four-point lead before going up by 10 at 8:52. The Seahawks took their largest least of the game, 59-44, before Sacred Heart answered with a 14-2 run, capped by a trey from Galette making it a three-point game, 61-58 with 2:30 left in the game.

Wagner took over for the final two and a half minutes to take the 68-58 final.

Raymond Espinal-Guzman scored a season-high 14 points, his first game in double figures, and led Sacred Heart in rebounds with seven.  

Up Next:
Sacred Heart returns home on Thursday, January 26th, at 7:00 PM when they host LIU in the Pitt Center.