Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Jan. 7, 2015) - On Wednesday night, the Molloy College men's basketball squad returned to Quealy Gymnasium and in front of its hometown crowd, defeated the University of D.C. in East Coast Conference action, 98-81. The Lions are now 8-5 overall and 3-2 in the conference, while the loss drops the Firebirds to 2-11 on the year (2-3 ECC).
Throughout the opening half, the game witnessed three scoring ties and a lead on either side that didn't go above double digits until the 1:56 mark. With just under two minutes remaining before the intermission, the Lions led 44-32 off a three-pointer from senior guard
Matt McLeod (Greenlawn, N.Y.). The Lions went 4-4 from the charity stripe in the last stretch to increase their advantage to 48-34 as the buzzer sounded.
Molloy piled onto its lead in the first four minutes of the second stanza, reaching a lead of 20 points on a dunk by senior forward
Miles Prendergast (Bayport, N.Y.). Although the Firebirds continued to battle and chip away, two straight three-balls from sophomore guard
Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.) and junior guard
Brandon Williams (Baldwin, N.Y.) threw some water on UDC's fire. The Lions' lead hovered between 15-19 points throughout the next 13 minutes. At the 3:31 mark, the Lions' faithful were treated to a dazzling alley-oop started by sophomore forward
Charlie Marquardt's (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) lob to the basket, and Morris slamming it home. That dunk put Molloy ahead 92-75, and by that time, UDC saw the writing on the wall.
In a tremendous team effort, the Lions placed four players -- all starters -- in double-digit scoring. McLeod paced the game with 23 points to go along with his eight rebounds, while Williams capped off his night with 21 points and six assists. The sophomore duo of Marquardt (20 points, 7 rebounds, 4 three-pointers, 2 assists) and Morris (15 points, 4 boards, 2 treys, 2 assists, 2 steals) flushed out the stat sheet quite nicely.
The Lions shot 50% from the floor tonight (30-60), while the Firebirds hit on the clip of 48.3%. Each squad nailed 10 of its 20 three-ball attempts, while Molloy held the edge in free throw percentage, 84.8% to 76.5%.
THE OTHER MARQUARDT'S STATS: Head Coach
Charles Marquardt earned the 220th victory of his Molloy career tonight.
WITHIN THE ECC: With tonight's win, the Lions are in sixth place in the 11-team league...Molloy is tied with Bridgeport and Daemen for the most overall wins in the league (8).
HOME COOKING: After today's final, the Lions are now 3-2 at home...Molloy has posted an umblemished 4-0 record in neutral-site contests this year, while its mark on the road is 1-3.
NEXT UP: The Lions will battle LIU Post in a conference tilt on Wednesday, Jan. 14 at 7:30 p.m.
