The Wagner Seahawks are moving on in the NCAA Tournament, though they didn’t make it easy on themselves in the closing minutes on Tuesday night. 

Howard missed three consecutive 3-point shots that would have tied the game in the last 10 seconds, allowing the Seahawks to come away with a 71-68 win in the First Four of the tourney at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio. 

Wagner will now face No. 1 seed North Carolina at 2:45 p.m. on Thursday. 

Wagner will make its first appearance in the Round of 64 for the first time in 21 years, when it suffered a first-round exit in an 87-61 loss to Pittsburgh. 

While Wagner had led for most of the night, the Bison made things interesting, cutting the Seahawks’ lead to one with less than 30 seconds left in the game.

Howard erased a 13-point deficit with 3:10 left in the second half as Marcus Docker and Seth Towns hit back-to-back three-pointers and Bryce Harris hit a pair of free throws to cut it to 67-62. 

Wagner’s Melvin Council Jr. gave his squad a little breathing room with a responding jumper, but Howard’s Isiah Warfield made back-to-back layups with under 1:30 to play, and a Harris layup made it a one-point game with 18 seconds on the clock. 

Two free throws by Julian Brown gave Wagner a three-point cushion, and even though Howard had three chances to tie, it could not knock down the tying bucket.