Turnovers Plague Firebirds in 69-65 Loss at Queens

FLUSHING, NY – A shorthanded University of the District of Columbia men's basketball team suffered a narrow, 69-65 loss on the road vs. East Coast Conference foe Queens College on Thursday night at Fitzgerald Gym.

The Firebirds fell to 9-11 overall and 7-5 in league play with tonight's loss while Queens ended a six-game losing streak to improve to 6-12 overall and 4-9 in league play.

Senior guard Erin Senegal led three Firebirds in double-figures with 19 points to go with five rebounds, and junior transfer point guard Kasim Chandler added 17 points. Junior transfer forward Jayone Troutman contributed 14 points, eight rebounds and tied for the game-high with four blocked shots, and senior forward Clenso Brannon III pitched in with six points, a game-high 12 rebounds, two assists and two steals.

The Knights featured two double-figure scorers, including guard Tyree White with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-15 FG shooting and 7-of-11 FT. White also registered game-highs of 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals. Forward Travis Whitfield also added 15 points, five rebounds and three steals.

UDC out-shot Queens 41-percent to 35-percent from the field and 77-percent to 66-percent from the foul line. Neither team shot well from three-point range, as the Firebirds were slightly better at 2-of-12 (17-percent) compared to Queens' 2-of-18 (11-percent). Rebounds were virtually even (Queens 43, UDC 42) despite the Firebirds playing without their leading rebounder Geran Pope for a 3^rd consecutive game.

Turnovers plagued the Firebirds, as they turned the ball over 21 times and surrendered 25 points to Queens off of turnovers. Queens also had the deeper bench, with two key UDC reserves – Martin Campbell and Virgil Fleming -  inactive for the 2^nd straight game. The Knights outscored UDC 14-4 in bench points.

Whitfield scored five of Queens' first seven points and his three-pointer nearly three minutes into the action put the Knights up 7-3. UDC answered with an 8-0 run that began with a Brannon jump shot and ended with six straight points by Troutman to put the Firebirds on top, 11-7 at 14:33. Later, Senegal buried a three-pointer to give UDC what would be its largest lead of the night, 18-11 at the 11:18 mark. But the Knights came storming back, beginning with a dunk by Diego Maldonado at 9:34. They first tied the score at 18 with seven straight points, then forced three more ties before taking their first lead since the opening minutes of action, 28-26 after a pair of free-throws by White with six seconds remaining. Chandler made 1-of-2 free-throws at the other end, and the score was Queens 28, UDC 27 at halftime.

The Knights out-scored UDC 9-4 in the opening 3:30 of the 2^nd half and extended their lead to 37-31 thanks to seven points by White during that span. A 5-2 spurt by UDC helped by a conventional three-point play by Troutman cut the deficit to 39-36 just past the 15-minute mark, but Whitfield's three-pointer 14 seconds later jump-started a 14-4 surge by Queens, capped by a Paul Little layup to put the Knights up 53-40 at the 9:40 mark.

The Firebirds continued to fight back as they cut the deficit to four, 55-51 with an 11-2 run over the next four minutes. They kept it a four-point differential , 60-56 with under a minute left on the clock as they started sending Queens to the line to save clock. The Knights made 3-of-4 at the stripe to extend their lead to 63-56 with 43 seconds left.

On the ensuing UDC possession, Chandler drew a foul and made a pair at the line to cut the Queens lead to five. Then, following a missed layup by Little, UDC junior transfer forward tipped in an offensive rebound off a missed three-pointer by Chandler to bring UDC within three, 63-60, with 25 seconds remaining.

Hope remained alive for UDC as Queens made only 2-of-4 during its next two trips to the foul line, and Nickerson spotted up and nailed a three-pointer with 12 seconds left to make it 65-63. But Queens managed to run off six seconds before the Firebirds gave the foul by Senegal and sent Kyheim Chaplin to the line. Chaplin made both to make it a two-possession game, and Queens went on to win by four, 69-65.

Next up, UDC will visit ECC foe Molloy College on Saturday, February 6^th at 2:30 p.m.