Cold-Shooting Firebirds Suffer Lopsided Loss at Molloy

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY – The University of the District of Columbia men's basketball team was defeated, 81-59 by East Coast Conference foe Molloy College on Wednesday night at Quealy Gymnasium.

The Firebirds fell to 13-12 overall and 10-7 in league play with the loss, while the Lions, who won their 3^rd straight game, improved to 16-10 overall and 12-5 in the ECC. Molloy also evened the season series with UDC, avenging a 90-79 loss to the Firebirds in the nation's capital back on January 11^th.

Senior guard Joseph Nickerson led the way for UDC with a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds – both team-highs. The nation's leader in steals per-game entering tonight also had two thefts.

Nickerson's backcourt mates, senior point guard Kasim Chandler and junior guard Khalil Jackson, added 17 and 10 points, respectively.

Molloy, which out-shot UDC 55-percent (35-of-64) to 28-percent (18-of-64) from the field, put three scorers in double-figures, including a game-high 23 points by the ECC's leading scorer, Jaylen Morris. Curtis Jenkins also packed the stat sheet with 17 points, seven rebounds, and game-highs of five assists and five steals, and Charlie Marquardt posted a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The Lions, who never trailed in this game, raced out to early leads of 7-2, 14-7, and 21-11, and they led by as many as 21 in the first half before ultimately taking a 50-33 advantage into the locker room.

UDC, which overcame a 10-point first half deficit to beat Molloy on its home floor last month, took just over two minutes to slice Molloy's 17-point lead down to nine as the Firebirds quickly scored the first eight points of the half. The Lions responded, however, with an 11-5 burst to push their lead back to 15, 46-31, with 13:30 left to play.

Molloy still led by 13 with 12:15 remaining when UDC mounted one last comeback attempt – a 6-0 run to cut the lead to seven, 65-58, with just under eight minutes to play. Unfortunately, the Firebirds went completely cold from that point on, going without a field goal for the final seven minutes of regulation as the Lions out-scored them 16-1 in that span. Molloy would go on to win by a 22-point margin – its largest of the night.

UDC, still assured an ECC Tournament berth as a lock to finish in the top-six in the conference, will play one final regular season game vs. the University of Bridgeport on Saturday, February 25^th. This game will be important in determining tournament seeding in the conference. Also, the Firebirds will honor the seniors on the team with a Senior Day ceremony before the game.