Firebirds Fall to the Chargers in Season Opener

ORANGEBURG, N.Y.- The University of the District of Columbia's men's basketball team opened their season at the Dominican Charger Tip-off, where they faced off against Dominican College on Friday night at the Hennessy Center. The Firebirds gave up a first-half lead to fall 82-66 to the Chargers, bringing their record to 0-1 on the season.

Junior transfer guard Kenyon Stone posted his first double-double of the season on 14 points and 11 rebounds to lead the game. Juanye Colon led UDC with 15 points and Jahmir Marable-Williams and Hartnel Haye contributed 12 and 11 points apiece.

UDC outscored the Chargers 37-35 in the first half going 50% from the field. With less than six minutes to go the Firebirds found themselves with a 13-point lead, which was short-lived after an 11-0 run by the Chargers cut the deficit down to a two-point game going into half-time.

The Firebirds took their lead into the second half with a steal from Phillip Brown Jr leading to a dunk by Stone to make it a five-point game. The Chargers would go on to have a 25-9 run to gain a 66-54 lead over the Firebirds with 6:31 remaining in the game.

Freshman point guard Tevin Curtis would break UDC's scoreless drought with a jump shot to make it a 10 point game. The Firebirds would however trail the rest of the game with the Chargers opening the deficit to 16.

UDC (0-1) will return for day two of the tournament to face off against Nyack College in search of their first win of the season. The game is slated to begin at 3:00 pm.