Box Score WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 16, 2015) – The Molloy College men's basketball team succumbed to poor foul shooting and a red-hot effort from beyond the arc by their opponents in a 79-70 loss to UDC on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C. Molloy now falls to 2-7 on the year and 1-2 in ECC play while UDC improves to 5-6 on the season and 3-0 in conference competition for the 2015-16 campaign.
A scoring deadlock opened the contest as the Lions and the Firebirds were unable to score for the first minute until UDC senior guard Erin Senegal (Lafayette, La.) drew the first points on the board with a three-pointer at the 18:42 mark of the first half. The hosts would lead 5-2 after two minutes of play on a trade-off of buckets from the Firebirds' Kasim Chandler (Newark, N.J.) and Molloy senior guard
Brandon Williams (Baldwin, N.Y.). The maroon and white then trailed 10-4 until a 12-0 spurt put the Lions ahead 16-10 as Williams, fellow senior
Kevin Bowles (Wantagh, N.Y.) and junior guard
Charlie Marquardt (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) did the damage for Molloy. Marquardt, in particular, scored eight of the Lions' points in the run with a lay-up and two three-balls, the last of which came with five minutes gone by in the opening frame. The Firebirds stormed back with a 6-0 rally of their own, thanks to juniors and Chicagoans Jayone Troutman and Virgil Fleming, tying the score at 16 with 12:01 to play in the half. Junior guard
Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.) responded one minute later with a bucket to give Molloy an 18-16 lead, but that would be the last time the Lions were on the plus-side of the scoreboard as UDC grabbed the game by the proverbial horns and never let go.
Chandler hit a trifecta to put UDC out in front by a score of 19-18 with 10:18 left to play, but a minute later the Lions drew even at 19 on a free throw from senior center
Chucks Obunse (St. Albans, N.Y.). Senegal then swished home a trey to give the Firebirds a 22-19 advantage, with Chandler hitting free throws to follow as UDC held a 24-19 lead at the 7:35 mark of the first half. The Lions valiantly fought back to within five points late on a Williams lay-up with 1:41 to go in the half, but Troutman scored the final two of his 16 first-half points to give UDC a 38-31 edge going into the locker room.
The Firebirds opened the second half of the game on a 14-7 scoring stretch to take a 14-point lead at 52-38 less than five minutes into the frame. A lay-up by Troutman at the 9:10 mark of the second half gave UDC its largest lead of the ball game at 68-52, but Molloy came back with a flourish. Morris scored two straight baskets and after a tip-in from
Curtis Jenkins (Farmingdale, N.Y.) and a Marquardt three-ball, the Lions were within seven points at 68-61 with 6:23 to play in regulation. Williams then took over scoring Molloy's next seven points, including a three-pointer with 3:01 to play that got the Lions within a 71-68 score line. On this night, however, it was not meant to be for the maroon and white as UDC closed the game out with an 8-2 run as Chandler, Troutman and Fleming put the game on ice for the home squad.
For Molloy, Williams was the high point man with 22 on the night as he inches ever closer to the 1,000-point plateau for his career. The senior point guard now stands at 971 points for his career, a mere 29 away from the milestone achievement. Marquardt poured in 13 points but was just 3-for-10 shooting from behind the three-point line while Morris had an uncharacteristically quiet double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds on the night. Jenkins played well in his return to the starting lineup with nine points, 10 rebounds, five steals and three assists, and Bowles had four blocks and three boards to go with a seven-point outing. Obunse had six rebounds off the bench and freshman
Chris O'Reilly (Colts Neck, N.J.) hit two three-balls for his six points on the evening.
Troutman led all scorers with 23 points for UDC, as he also collected nine rebounds and six blocks to lead the Firebirds to victory. Chandler had 19 points, eight of which came from the free throw line as he hit 80% (8-10) of his tries from the charity stripe. Fleming added 16 on a near-perfect night (6-of-7) from the field and the junior guard added five assists and five steals in the win. Senegal was not at his best, but the senior still chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds on a night where he shot 3-of-10 from the field.
Molloy was plus-eight (49-41) in the rebounding category, plus-six (36-30) on points in the paint and minus-two (15-17) in the turnover statistic. But what has usually been a strength for the Lions was their downfall Wednesday evening, as Molloy hit just two free throws in six attempts through forty minutes of play. The maroon and white also hit just 36% (30-84) of its field goal attempts and another 36% (8-22) from beyond the arc. UDC, meanwhile, was on fire---no pun intended---in shooting 48% (28-59) from the field, 47% (7-15) from beyond the three-point line and 76% (16-21) from the free throw line.
Head Coach
Charles Marquardt and the Molloy men's basketball team will continue its end-of-year road trip on Sunday (Dec. 20) in a non-conference contest against in-state opponent Pace University. Tip-off from Pleasantville is set for 1:30 p.m.
