Dominican Charges Past District of Columbia, 75-62

ORANGEBURG, NY – The University of the District of Columbia men's basketball team was defeated by Dominican, 75-62 in non-conference action Sunday afternoon at the Hennessy Center.

The Firebirds, who had previously fallen prey to four Division I teams this season, are now 1-5 overall, including a 1-1 mark in Division II play. Meanwhile, the Chargers improved to 4-2 on the season and avenged a 74-63 loss to District of Columbia last season at UDC Gym on Dec. 30, 2011.

District of Columbia's junior transfer guard Michael Terry (Criminal Justice – Philadelphia, PA/Boston University) led all scorers with a season-high 17 points on 5-of-11 from the field and 6-of-7 from the foul line while also pulling down five rebounds and dishing two assists. His backcourt mate, junior transfer Quasim Jones (Business Management – Philadelphia, PA/Johnson CC), registered 12 points while also adding team-highs of seven rebounds, six assists and two steals. Also, junior transfer guard/forward Ralph Watts (Sociology – Peekskill, NY/University at Albany) knocked down a team-best three treys to finish with 11 points while sophomore forward Florent Pontens (Business Management – Tarbes, France/Cheshire Academy) was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field for a season-high of 10.

Dominican had four of its five starters score in double-figures, including a team-high 14 points from guard Leon Porter. Center Cory Quimby and forward Daniel Woods had identical double-doubles of 11 points and 12 rebounds, with Quimby also adding a team-best five assists. Tyler Stradford, the Chargers' other starting forward, added 11 points and three assists.

The Chargers, now 2-0 against teams from the East Coast Conference, were the better shooting and rebounding team on this day. Dominican made 29-of-58 (50-percent) from the field compared to 21-of-63 (33-percent) by District of Columbia, and held a decisive 45-33 rebounding edge.

The hosts got off to a quick start, taking a 7-2 lead almost three minutes into the action on a jumper by Stradford, but back-to-back three pointers in a little over a minute by Watts and Terry propelled the Firebirds into an 8-7 lead. Later in the half, a pair of free-throws just past the 10-minute mark by senior forward Dyrek Jones (Business Management – Brooklyn, NY/Bedford Academy) put the Firebirds on top, 20-19, but a layup by the Chargers' Nick Smith sparked an 8-0 Dominican run that resulted in a 27-20 advantage with 8:23 left to play before halftime. District of Columbia fired back with a 7-0 run, culminating in a Watts three-pointer to force the seventh and final tie of the game, 27-all; however, the Chargers closed out the half on a 13-5 surge and took its largest lead of the half, 40-32 into intermission.

Dominican never let its foot off the gas, opening the second frame with an 11-4 run to complete a 24-9 run which spanned both halves. An and-one fade-away jumper resulting in a three-point play for Quimby capped the run and gave the Chargers their largest lead of the day, 51-36 with 16:22 left in regulation. The Firebirds came storming back to close the deficit to five(59-54) by out-scoring Dominican 18-8 over the next 9:06. Pontens scored eight of his 10 during that stretch, including an emphatic two-handed slam off of an offensive rebound which seemed to ignite the Firebirds' bench. That would be as close as District of Columbia would get the rest of the way though, as the Chargers bolstered their lead back up to 13 with an 11-3 run. Leon Porter's three-pointer with 3:44 left to play put Dominican ahead, 70-57, and the Chargers went on to win comfortably, 75-62.

The Firebirds have nearly two full weeks off before they travel to Bridgeport for their East Coast Conference season-opener at Bridgeport on December 8^th at 3 p.m.