After starting the new year with a four-game winning streak, the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) men’s basketball team has cooled off, losing its last three contests, including a 91-85 loss to Queens College (New York) on Saturday, Jan. 28.
University of the District of Columbia (UDC) men’s basketball team senior guard Joseph Nickerson. (Courtesy of UDCFirebirds.com)
The losing skid has dropped the Firebirds’ overall record to 10-9, and 7-4 against the East Coast Conference (ECC), currently good for sixth place in the ECC standings.
UDC ranked much higher in the conference standings just two weeks ago; four consecutive wins over Long Island University Post, New York Institute of Technology, Molloy and Mercy gave them a 7-1 ECC record at the time. But since then UDC has struggled to score, reaching the 80-point mark just once in its last three games.
UDC did manage to score 85 points against Queens, Saturday as senior guard Kasim Chandler scored a game-high 23 points. Junior guard Khalil Jackson also had an outstanding game, scoring 20 points off the bench along with five blocks. But Queens forward Tyree White matched Chandler with 23 points, and guards Marquis Roberts and Diego Maldano each added 16 points to help Queens outscore the Firebirds for the victory.
Next: UDC hopes to snap its losing streak in its matchup against Roberts Wesleyan College on Feb. 1 in Rochester, N.Y.; the Firebirds then take on St. Thomas Aquinas on Feb. 4 in Sparkill, N.Y.
