UDC Men’s Basketball Falls at Dowling, 89-68

OAKDALE, NY – The University of the District of Columbia men's basketball team was defeated by host Dowling, 89-68 on Wednesday night in East Coast Conference action from Dowling Gymnasium.

Junior transfer guard Erin Senegal (Political Science – Lafayette, LA/Caldwell) led the Firebirds with 19 points and sophomore guard Reggie Sidbury (Social Work – Landover, MD/Charles Herbert Flowers HS) contributed 13 points, but the Firebirds lost their second straight game – sixth in seven tries – to fall to 5-20 overall (5-12 ECC).

Dowling drew even in the season series with the Firebirds and won its second straight game to remain in 5^th place in the ECC standings with a league mark of 9-8 (11-13 overall). The Golden Lions were led by center Evan Maxwell's game-high 25 points and nine rebounds. Guards Tristan Brown and Darien Davis added 17 points apiece as well.

The Golden Lions out-shot UDC 50-percent to 38-percent from the field, and shot a sizzling 44-percent (7-of-16) from long range compared to UDC's 28-percent (7-of-25). They also out-scored UDC, 38-24 in the paint and 29-18 in bench points, and they committed five fewer turnovers (14-9).

Senegal made three shots from behind-the-arc and finished with a team-high 11 first half points to keep UDC in the game. His third three-pointer of the opening period brought UDC within two, 32-30 with 3:28 remaining. Dowling, however, would close out the half on a 10-2 run, including three consecutive free-throws in the final seconds by Donte Adams to give the hosts their largest lead of the first half, 42-32, as both teams headed to the locker room for intermission.

With momentum on their side, the Golden Lions raced out to a 6-0 run to start the second half and quickly extended their lead to 49-32. Back-to-back three-pointers by Sidbury and another trey by junior guard Omar Abbas (Electrical Engineering – Alexandria, Egypt/Egyptian American School) helped UDC close the gap back to 10, 51-41 at the 16:44 mark.

Again Dowling tried to put the game away with an 11-2 run to go up 62-43, but UDC countered with a 9-0 surge to pull within 10 (62-52) once more near the 10-minute mark. This time, the Golden Lions marched out to a 16-5 run and took an insurmountable, 78-57 lead near the five-minute mark to essentially put the game away. Dowling went on to win comfortably by a 19-point margin.

UDC will return to action on Saturday afternoon as the Firebirds host ECC foe Bridgeport at 3 p.m.