Bears Deal District of Columbia, 91-81 Conference Loss

OLD WESTBURY, NY – The University of the District of Columbia men's basketball team was defeated by host NYIT, 91-81 on Saturday afternoon in East Coast Conference play.

The Firebirds, who have now lost three of their last four games, including their last two, fell to 4-16 overall and 4-8 in league play with the loss. The Bears won their third straight game to improve to 8-11 on the season and 5-6 in the ECC, and they evened the season series with the Firebirds.

Senior guard Michael Terry (Criminal Justice – Philadelphia, PA/Boston U) and sophomore guard Reggie Sidbury (Social Work – Landover, MD/Charles Herbert Flowers HS) came off the bench to lead UDC with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Freshman guard Kory Cooley (Art – Silver Spring, MD/Calvin Coolidge HS) also added 17 points, and senior point guard Quasim Jones (Mass Media – Philadelphia, PA/Johnson CC) registered 11 points and a team-high eight assists.

Reigning ECC player of the week Darian Hooker led all scorers with 30 points and dished out five assists. Freshman Fred Rivers also added 17 points with a game-high nine assists.

The lead changed hands three times in the opening minute of play before NYIT went on a 9-0 run to grab a 16-6 lead with 12:15 to play. The Bears then pushed their advantage to 15 points 29-14, five minutes later following a layup by Iziah Sherman-Newsome. The Firebirds worked their way back into the game, however, with a 9-0 rally in the final two minutes of the first half, and closed within five, 39-34 at intermission.

NYIT opened the second half, however, on a 13-2 run, and extended its lead to 52-38. Later, a jump shot by Hooker near the 11-minute mark would give the Bears their largest lead of the day, 71-53. Terry knocked down two three-pointers and Sidbury another to cap a 15-3 Firebirds surge late in the second half that saw UDC close within seven, 75-68 with just under six minutes left in the game. That is as close as UDC would get the rest of the way, though, as NYIT went on to win comfortably by a 10-point margin.

Next up, UDC will visit Daemen on Friday, February 6^th at 8 p.m.