Firebirds Blitzed by Bears in 85-68 Road Loss

OLD WESTBURY, NY – The University of the District of Columbia men's basketball team was unable to break out of its early-season funk as the Firebirds suffered an 85-68 defeat at East Coast Conference foe, NYIT on Saturday afternoon at Recreation Hall.

The Firebirds (1-10, 0-3 ECC) shot a solid 44-percent from the field and 35-percent (7-of-20) from three-point range, but were blown out in the battle of the boards, 43-29 and committed 15 turnovers to the Bears' 10 en-route to their ninth straight loss.

Senior guard Keith Brooks (Journalism – Queens, NY/Monsignor McClancy HS) knocked down as many three-pointers as the Bears made collectively (four) to lead all scorers with a career-high 20 points. Junior transfer Ralph Watts (Sociology – Peekskill, NY/UAlbany) and senior transfer D'Angelo Johnson (Mass Media – Washington, DC/Virginia St.) each scored 14 points with Watts also pulling down a team-best nine rebounds, and junior transfer Michael Terry (Criminal Justice – Philadelphia, PA/Boston U) added 13 points and three assists.

NYIT, which has now won five of its last six, improved to 8-4 overall and remained perfect in ECC play at 3-0. The Bears' entire starting five scored in double-figures, led by former Firebird, junior transfer Phil Izevbehai, who netted 19 points on 7-of-15 from the field, including a few emphatic dunks. Kayvon Roberts added 16 points and a team-high nine rebounds, Antoine Brown and Dominic Scurry registered 14 points apiece and Azel Prather, Jr. pitched in with 12 points and nine boards.

The host Bears would never trail in this game as Izevbehai's three-pointer at the 18:48 mark would put NYIT ahead to stay, 5-2. After a jumper by Johnson made it 5-4, the Bears created some distance with an 8-0 run to go up, 13-4 as the game approached the 15-minute mark. Brooks' first three-pointer of the game capped a 5-0 run to cut the NYIT lead to four at the 13:44 mark, but that was as close as the Firebirds would get the rest of the way. Trailing 26-20 nearing the six-minute mark, the Firebirds let the Bears go on a 14-4 run to end the half and take a commanding, 40-24 lead into the break.

The second half started with a Firebirds turnover and a jumper by Izevbehai to make it 42-24, and the Bears would never look back. Consecutive three-pointers by Brooks cut a 19-point District of Columbia deficit to 13 at the 10:31 mark, but NYIT countered with a 14-1 surge to take its largest lead of the afternoon, 71-45. The Firebirds never got any closer than 14 the rest of the way and were saddled with a 17-point defeat.

Up next, the Firebirds will host their Coaches vs. Cancer Game vs. St. Thomas Aquinas on Wednesday, January 9^th at 7 p.m.