Firebirds Fade in Second Half; Fall to Big East’s Villanova 78-58 in Season Opener

VILLANOVA, PA – The University of the District of Columbia men's basketball team trailed Division I Villanova by just two points early in the second half, but the Wildcats outscored the Firebirds, 45-30 in the second half en-route to a 78-58 win in both teams' season openers on Friday night at the Pavilion in first round action of the Wounded Warrior Project 2K Sports Classic Tournament.

Junior Ziad Ashmawy (Economics – Cairo, Egypt/American City College) scored eight of his 12 points in the first half, as he made 3-of-4 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line for the night while also adding four rebounds and two steals. Junior transfer Quasim Jones (Business Management – Philadelphia, PA/Johnson CC) added a game-high 13 points in his Firebirds debut and junior transfer Michael Terry (Criminal Justice – Philadelphia, PA/Boston University) registered 12 points in his debut as well. Senior Milton Colquehoun (History – Takoma Park, MD/Alfred State) also pitched in with a career-high eight points in two minutes off the bench.

Villanova (1-0), playing in front of a capacity home crowd of 6,500, was led by a balanced scoring attack that included three scorers in double-figures. Maurice Sutton led the Wildcats with 12 points off the bench while Ryan Arcidiacono added 11 points and four assists and JayVaughn Pinkston nearly recorded a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Wildcats scored the game's first seven points and took a commanding 15-2 lead after a three-pointer by Arcidiacono at the 15:49 mark. But District of Columbia was not going away that easy. Two layups by Ashmawy and a three-pointer by junior transfer Austin Cooley (Psychology – Silver Spring, MD/Niagara University) helped the Firebirds pull within 17-9 during a 7-2 run that spanned a little over four minutes. Then, after Villanova grew its lead back to 12 (25-13) nearing the six-minute mark, the Firebirds came storming back to close the deficit to four (30-26) with a scintillating 13-5 run highlighted by a Quasim Jones three-pointer and four points by Ashmawy.

After two Pinkston free-throws upped Villanova's lead back up to six, Terry converted his second consecutive layup to make the score 32-28 with 40 seconds left in the half. Arcidiacono's 1-of-2 trip at the line with just four seconds left before the halftime buzzer made it a five-point lead, as the Firebirds remained in striking distance, 33-28 when the two teams headed to the locker rooms for intermission.

Terry, the man who scored District of Columbia's final four points of the first half, sent the Firebird faithful at the Pavilion into a frenzy as he buried a three-pointer to bring the visitors within two, 33-31 almost 30 seconds into the second frame. But it was all Villanova from there. The Wildcats would outscore the Firebirds 25-6 over the next 9:43 to take a commanding, 58-37 advantage with just under 10 minutes to play. The Wildcats' lead would swell to as many as 26 after a pair of Sutton free-throws at the 7:22 mark before they would ultimately settled for a 20-point win, 78-58.

In the second half, Villanova out-shot District of Columbia 52-percent to 32-percent from the field (46-percent to 35-percent for the game) and held a 23-11 rebounding advantage (41-29 for the game). The Firebirds shot slightly better from long-range (32-percent to 29-percent), but at a cost as they hoisted 28 three-point attempts compared to 17 by Villanova. District of Columbia also shot better percentage-wise from the free-throw line (83-percent to 66-percent) but Villanova made more (19 to 15) at the stripe.

The Firebirds (0-1) will host their season home opener tomorrow night at 7 p.m. against University of the Sciences as part of the school's Homecoming Festivities.