Julian Brown added 15 points while Tahron Allen and Keyontae Lewis added 10 apiece for Wagner.
“I thought my guys did a great job of being calm,” Wagner coach Donald Copeland said. “I know we made some tough plays down the stretch. I think they’re really good at those traps and pressures and everything, but we’re tough. We finished the game the right way.”
Bryce Harris and Ohio State transfer Seth Towns scored 16 points apiece to lead the Bison, who were down 67-54 until Marcus Dockery and Towns hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
The Bison cut it to five when Howard was called for goal-tending then made it a 3-point game on Isiah Warfield’s layup that was set up by Dockery’s steal at midcourt.
Wagner failed to score at the other end, and Harris got all the way to the basket for a hoop that made it 69-68 with 17 seconds left.
Howard fouled Julian Brown send him to the free throw line with 14.9 seconds left, and he made both ends of a one-and-one to set up a frenetic final possession in which Howard got three looks from beyond the 3-point line.
None went down, though, and the Seahawks could celebrate moving on to play No. 1 seed North Carolina on Thursday.
“They’re as good as you get in the country,” Copeland said. “They’re a national title contender. We’re going to have to be really good, a lot better than we were today, especially in the second half. So we’ll prepare and do the best we can.”
Wagner shot 53% from the floor while Howard was just under 40, and the Seahawks made 8 of 17 from 3-point range while the Bison were just 7-for-24.
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