UDC Men's basketball Pulls the Upset On Molloy; Keeps Post-Season Hosting Dreams Alive

WASHINGTON, DC- The University of the District Columbia's men's basketball team pulled off the upset, defeating the current second ranked team in the conference, Molloy University 88-71, Saturday night at the E.B Henderson Sports Complex Gymnasium. The Firebirds improved to 7-6 in conference play to remain in fourth place in the standings, and is one game closer to securing their hosting position for the first round of the post-season. Molloy fell to 9-4 in the league and is currently tied with Daemen for the second spot.

Juanye Colon came off the bench to score a team high 22 points knocking down five trey's and going 6-11 from the field. Hartnel Haye and Micah Campbell both posted a double-double, with Haye scoring 17 points and pulling down a game-high 15 boards, and Campbell scoring 12 points to add to his 10 rebounds. Jahmir Marable-Williams and Michael Aiken also scored in the double-figures with 13 and 10 points respectively.

The Firebirds took the early lead going on a 7-0 run in the opening minutes, and while the Lions responded it wasn't enough as UDC kept their feet on the gas, going into half-time with a 13 point lead. 

Coming out the break our hosts would widen the margin, leading by as much as 19 points. Powered by the Lions leading scorer Darren Fergus, who scored a game-high 25 points, they were able to cut the deficit down to as low as ten points. The Firebirds, however kicked into another gear, scoring just shy of 50 points, to win by a margin of 17 points. 

UDC shot at 44.6% from the field, while Molloy shot at 37.3%. The Firebirds game-changer, was their ability to attack the boards on both the offensive and defensive ends, outrebounding the Lions 48-30. This led to 21 points off of second chances compared to the vistors seven.

With this win the Firebirds split the season series with Molloy, as they did last season. They also tie their number of wins from last season at nine and is only one conference win shy of their record from last year. 

Next Up, UDC (9-13, 7-6 ECC) heads to N.Y. on Saturday, to face off against Queens College in their final road game of the regular season. Tip-off is set for 1:30 PM.