Herd Tramples Upset-Minded Firebirds in Second Half for Lopsided Win

HEMPSTEAD, NY – The upset-minded University of the District of Columbia men's basketball team led Division I Marshall, 48-42 at the 15:49 mark of the second half, but the Herd came marching back to out-score the Firebirds, 38-10 the rest of the way and hand their Division II foe a seemingly lopsided, 80-58 defeat in the 2K Sports Classic on Friday night at the Mack Sports Complex on the campus of Hofstra.

Junior transfer point guard Quasim Jones (Business Management – Philadelphia, PA/Johnson CC) once again led the Firebirds offensively with team-highs of 12 points and six assists. Fellow junior transfer guards Michael Terry (Criminal Justice – Philadelphia, PA/Boston University) and Ralph Watts (Sociology – Peekskill, NY/U. at Albany) added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Marshall, with three of its starting five standing 6-foot-9 or taller, feasted in the paint against a considerably smaller Firebirds squad. The Herd nearly doubled-up the Firebirds in the rebounding battle, 51-26, they outscored District of Columbia 46-16 in the paint, and they cashed in on 18 offensive rebounds for a 25-2 advantage in second-chance points.

Reserve forward Dennis Tinnon led the way for Marshall with game-highs of 17 points and 12 rebounds. Meanwhile, starting forward Elijah Pittman netted 14 points to go with five rebounds and 6-foot-10, 230 lb. center Nigel Spikes registered eight points and 12 boards.  The Herd also got great production from its point guard, DeAndre Kane, who shot 8-of-16 from the field to score 16 points while also distributing a game-high nine assists.

Terry scored five of his 11 points in the opening minutes of the game, knocking down a three-pointer and later a pair of free-throws to give the Firebirds an early, 7-2 lead. The Herd answered back with nine straight points as part of a 14-3 run which shot Marshall into the lead, 16-10 at the 11:36 mark. But back came District of Columbia with an 11-1 run, highlighted by three consecutive long-range bombs by three different Firebird players. Quasim Jones' jumper at the 8:43 mark capped the run and gave District of Columbia a 21-17 lead.

The Firebirds still led 27-23 with 6:35 left in the first half when Marshall used a 9-1 charge to pull ahead, 32-28 following a layup by Kane at the 3:28 mark. Terry's layup then ignited a 9-2 Firebirds surge over the next three minutes to put District of Columbia up 37-34, but Kane converted a layup with just four ticks left to bring Marshall within one, 37-36 as both teams left the floor for halftime. While Marshall held a 20-12 scoring edge in the paint, the Firebirds' 5-of-8 (63-percent) long-range shooting helped earn them a one-point advantage at the break.

District of Columbia outscored Marshall 11-6 in the first 4:11 of the second half on the strength of Ralph Watts' five points and two made jump shots by Jones, and the Firebirds had their largest lead of the night, 48-42 with 15:49 left to play in regulation. But just when it looked like momentum was on District of Columbia's side, the Herd came storming back with a 6-0 run that included back-to-back dunks by Kane and Tinnon to knot the score at 48-all with just over 14 minutes showing on the clock. A 30 second timeout by the Firebirds, a media timeout, and two jumpers by District of Columbia senior guard Keith Brooks (Journalism – Queens, NY/Monsignor McClancy HS) still was not enough to turn the tide as that 6-0 spurt elongated into a 15-4 spell, propelling Marshall to a 57-52 lead just past the 11-minute mark.

A dunk by the Firebirds' junior transfer guard Austin Cooley cut the Marshall lead to three, 57-54 at the 10:30 mark, and District of Columbia head coach Jeff Ruland immediately called a 30 second time-out to try to settle his team down. The strategy did not pay off though as Marshall went on an 18-0 blitz over the next six minutes to take a commanding, 75-54 lead with four and a half minutes to play. The Firebirds, who shot 7-of-28 (25-percent) from the field in the second half (including 0-for-8 from three-point range) were held scoreless in the final 4:19 of play as Marshall went on to win by its largest margin of the night, 80-58.

The Firebirds will look to bounce back tomorrow evening as they take on another Division I team in tournament host, Hofstra. Tip-off is at 5 p.m.