District of Columbia Downed by NYIT in Home ECC Contest

WASHINGTON, DC – New York Institute of Technology opened the game on an 8-0 run and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire in a lopsided, 104-67 victory over University of the District of Columbia in East Coast Conference play at UDC Gym Wednesday evening.

Junior transfer forward Lenjo Kilo (Biology – Silver Spring, MD/Seton Hill) nearly notched his third straight 30-point scoring performance, finishing with a game-high 28 points and team-high nine rebounds to lead the Firebirds, who fell to 2-7 overall and 1-3 in league play. Phil Izevbehai, a senior transfer playing against his former team, led four NYIT scorers in double-figures with 20 points (4-of-9 from long range) and reserve Wayne Bradford added 19 points and six rebounds to guide the Bears to their second straight win, as they improved to 4-5 overall and 2-2 in the ECC.

NYIT dominated the rebounding battle, 45-26, and out-scored UDC, 46-34 in the paint and 15-7 in second-chance points. Also, the Bears' six substitutes combined to tally 42 bench points while UDC had only three reserves who combined to score 13 points. The Firebirds shot well from the field (27-of-62, 44-percent) and three-point range (5-of-13, 39-percent), but not well enough to keep pace with a red-hot NYIT squad which shot 57-percent (39-of-68) from the floor and 13-of-27 (48-percent) from long range. The Bears also made out better at the free-throw line, making 13-of-17 (77-percent) compared to UDC's 8-of-13 (62-percent).

Jahleel Felix (15 points) scored the game's first five points for NYIT, and Khalif Chaplin (nine points, eight rebounds, four assists) converted a conventional three-point play as part of an 8-0 Bears run to start the game in the opening two minutes of play. Later, back-to-back-to-back three-pointers, two by Izevbehai and one by Jahleel Felix, made it 21-6 just past the 15-minute mark. Izevbehai led all first half scorers with 15 points and Felix added 10 to help the Bears jump out to a commanding, 52-25 lead at intermission.

NYIT out-scored UDC 10-5 in the first 4:10 of the second half to extend its lead to 62-30 on a layup by Markus Moore (12 points, eight rebounds, game-high six assists). The Bears maintained a lead no less than 26 the rest of the way and went up by as many as 39 (104-65) after a 10-0 run in the final three minutes of regulation before a jumper by UDC's freshman guard Kevin Campbell (Biology – Washington, DC/Woodrow Wilson HS) closed out the day's scoring. Campbell, a first-year walk-on player, finished with a season-high 11 points.

The Firebirds are now off for the winter holiday break, and they will return to action on January 4^th, 2014 when they host non-region foe, the Apprentice School. Tip-off from UDC Gym will be at 3 p.m.