Emmitsburg, Md. (January 30, 2016)--A second half rally came up short as Mount St. Mary's fell to Wagner, 73-63, on Saturday afternoon before a sellout crowd at Knott Arena.  BK Ashe (Washington, D.C.) led the Mountaineers with 21 points in the game.

With the loss, the Mount (10-13, 7-3 NEC) falls into a three-way tie for first place in the Northeast Conference with Wagner and Fairleigh Dickinson.

Wagner (14-7, 7-3 NEC) controlled play throughout the first half to take a 43-21 lead at the intermission.  The Seahawks jumped out to a 22-12 lead midway through the half, amd then closed the half on a 19-to-3 run to take a 22-point lead.

The Mount stormed back early in the second half, using a 22-to-5 spurt to cut Wagner's advantage to 48-43 with 11:41 left in the game.  Gregory Graves (Sterling, Va.) sparked the run with nine points while Ashe added five points, including a three-pointer that made it a five-point game.

Wagner's Michael Carey converted a traditional three-point play to push the lead back to eight.  The Mount was able to cut the deficit to 57-51 on a Graves jumper with 7:26 left, but would get no closer the rest of the way.

Ashe finished with 21 points and five rebounds while Graves scored all 14 of his points in the second half.  Chris Wray (Shelby, N.C.) added eight points and six rebounds as well.

Carey led all scorers with 26 points while Corey Henson chipped in 14 points for Wagner.

Wagner shot 50.9 percent from the field in the game and held a 42-32 edge on the boards.  The Mount shot just 35.0 percent, including 6-of-25 (24.0 percent) in the opening half.

The sellout crowd of 3,121 was the Mount's first sellout since March 1, 2003.  That was the final game of legendary coach Jim Phelan's career.

Mount St. Mary's begins a two-game road trip on Thursday, February 4, at LIU Brooklyn.  Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.