District of Columbia Snaps Losing Streak With Come-from-behind, 75-72 Win Over St. Thomas Aquinas

WASHINGTON, DC – The University of the District of Columbia men's basketball team erased a 12-point second half deficit to beat East Coast Conference foe St. Thomas Aquinas, 75-72 on Wednesday night at UDC Gym, thus ending its nine-game losing streak.

The Firebirds improved to 2-10 overall (1-3 ECC) with the win while dropping STAC to 2-10 overall and 2-2 in league play. District of Columbia is now 3-0 in the all-time series against the Spartans.

With a depleted roster of just seven able-bodied players, three Firebird players really carried the load offensively. Senior transfer forward D'Angelo Johnson (Mass Media – Washington, DC/Virginia St.) scored a game-high 22 points, junior transfer guard Ralph Watts (Sociology – Peekskill, NY/UAlbany) registered 21 points and a game-high eight rebounds, and junior transfer point guard Quasim Jones (Business Management – Philadelphia, PA/Johnson CC) added 19 points and a game-high seven assists.

The Spartans were led offensively by Justin Brown and Sam Wilson. Brown tied for the game-high of 22 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field (3-of-3 from three-point range) and a perfect 7-of-7 at the free-throw line, and Sam Wilson made a game-high five three-pointers to finish with 21 points.

District of Columbia got off to a hot start, claiming early leads of 10-3 and 18-5 before Wilson sparked STAC with two consecutive three-pointers to help them pull within two (23-21) as a result of a 16-5 run. Johnson, who had 18 of his 22 points in the first half, knocked down his second three-pointer of the half with 3:31 to play before halftime to give the Firebirds a 37-30 lead, but a three-point shooting barrage by the Spartans to end the half resulted in the visitors claiming a 44-41 advantage at intermission. Wilson started and ended what amounted to a 14-4 Spartan surge with a pair of three-pointers as he finished with 14 of his 21 in the first frame. The Firebirds out-shot their guests 59-percent to 47-percent from the field, but the Spartans' 9-of-16 (56-percent) three-point shooting gave them a slim lead at the break.

STAC did not let up in the second half, opening the final frame with a 12-3 run (26-7 run to span the halves) to take their largest lead of the night, 56-44 with 14:20 left to play. Quasim Jones stopped the bleeding with a jumper just past the 14-minute mark, and that ignited a 6-0 Firebirds mini-run which cut the deficit in half. However, back-to-back three-pointers by T.J. Jones and Wilson helped STAC re-up its lead to 10 as the game approached the 11-minute mark. Back came the Firebirds though with a 7-0 run, highlighted by a Michael Terry (Criminal Justice – Philadelphia, PA/Boston U) trey, and the Spartans lead was just three with 7:19 left to play.

Still trailing by five (66-61) with just under six minutes in regulation, the Firebirds got back-to-back buckets from Jones and Terry to make it a one-point game at the 4:45 mark. Then, following a layup by STAC's Dane Dixon, Ralph Watts forced just the second tie of the night with an and-one layup with just over three minutes to play. Terry then gave the Firebirds their first lead of the second half with a 1-of-2 trip at the free-throw line at the 2:35 mark, but on the ensuing Spartans possession, Justin Brown gave the visitors back the lead by sinking a pair of free-throws with 2:18 to go. Right back down the floor came District of Columbia, with Terry finding Watts on a beautiful feed for an easy layup to send the Firebirds to a 71-70 lead with just over two minutes remaining.

District of Columbia made things interesting by shooting 4-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final 30 seconds of the game, allowing the Spartans a chance with three seconds remaining, trailing by three.  Fortunately for the Firebirds, sophomore forward Florent Pontens (Business Management – Tarbes, France/Cheshire Academy) intercepted Wilson's pass at midcourt as the Spartans did not even manage a desperation heave in the final seconds.

STAC cooled off dramatically in the second half, shooting just 8-of-27 from the field (30-percent) and 3-of-13 from behind-the-arc (23-percent). The Firebirds out-shot their guests 53-percent to 39-percent from the field for the game and were considerably better in assist-to-turnover ratio (18/7 to 15/11).

Next up, the Firebirds visit league-leading LIU Post on Saturday, January 12^th at 3 p.m.