Five Purple Knights Reach Double-Digit Scoring But UB Men Stopped By Molloy In ECC Championship Semifinals

Bridgeport, Conn.-Five players reached double-digit scoring for the University of Bridgeport men's basketball team on Saturday night in the semifinals of the 2017 East Coast Conference Championship Tournament, but it was not enough, as the number-two seeded, Molloy College Lions posted an 89-82 win over the number three-seed Purple Knights in UB's Hubbell Gym.  The win by the Lions is their first-ever over Bridgeport in the Park City, snapping a 22-game losing streak on the road versus UB.  Molloy (18-10) will now face top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas in Sunday's ECC Championship Final in Bridgeport.  The Purple Knights closed out their 2016-17 campaign at 18-12 overall.

Junior Sam Joseph (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led UB in scoring with 18 points.  He was joined in double figures by junior Sharif Cobb (Harlem, N.Y.), senior Kyle Benjamin (Bronx, N.Y.) with 15 points, and senior Stefano Osuji (Voorhees, N.J.) and junior Carlos DeJesus (Bronx, N.Y.), each had 10 points.  Benjamin also finished with a game-high 12 rebounds to notch a double-double.

UB sophomore D'Vonne Trumbo (Franklinville, N.J.) finished just shy of double figures with nine points.

Molloy, who led by as many 14 points in the first half and held a 41-32 advantage at halftime, saw the Purple Knights cut the deficit in the second half to as little as two points, 54-52 with 15:01 to play and, 79-77, 2:16 to go, but that was as close as Bridgeport would get come, as the Lions closed the game out with 10-5 run to cap off the historic victory.

Molloy's Charlie Marquardt led all scorers in the contest with 32 points for the winners.