Washington, D.C. (Jan. 11, 2017) – Despite 29 points from senior Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.), the men's basketball team fell to first-place District of Columbia on Wednesday (Jan. 11). The guard went 12-of-18 from the field and pulled down nine rebounds in the effort. With the loss, Molloy drops to an even 8-8 on the year and 4-3 in East Coast Conference play.

The Lions opened to an early double-digit lead as a jumper from sophomore Curtis Jenkins (Farmingdale, N.Y.) put Molloy up 20-19 with 11 minutes left in the first half. Back-to-back three-pointers from Joseph Nickerson (Newark, N.J.) brought the Firebirds to within nine points with five minutes to play, but field goals from Morris and Jenkins pushed the Lions ahead 40-28. In the final minutes, UDC came within seven, but senior Charlie Marquardt (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) sunk two three-pointers to send the Lions into the locker room up 48-38.

The Firebirds took the lead following a thunderous 21-9run to open the second half. Falling behind by as much as nine points, the Lions rallied back to within one following five consecutive points from Morris with 6:52 left in the contest. UDC promptly responded with a 17-5 run to go up 73-86 in the final two minutes. Refusing to quit, the maroon and white continued pushing, but were unable to bridge the gap and fell 90-79.

Molloy received 17 of their 19 bench points from Jenkins, who went 4-of-6 from the field and an impressive 9-of-14 from the charity stripe. The sophomore also pulled down eight rebounds. Rounding out the top scorers for Molloy, Marquardt and senior Mike Guzzardi (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) totaled 15 and 12 points, respectively.

The Lions return to the court on Saturday (Jan. 14) as they face Daemen College at 2:00 p.m. at Quealy Gymnasium.