Purple Knights Prevail At Roberts Wesleyan, 64-56, For Seventh Straight Men's Basketball Victory

Rochester, N.Y.-The University of Bridgeport men's basketball team overcame a slow start at Roberts Wesleyan College on Friday night, as the Purple Knights pulled away from the host Redhawks to post a 64-56 East Coast Conference victory.  The Purple Knights, who have now won seven games in a row, raise their overall record to 15-9 and their conference mark to 13-5.  RWC slips to 10-13 overall and 6-11 in the ECC.

UB was ice cold at the start of the contest trailing 9-1, and Bridgeport was down 24-15 with 4:07 to play in the first half before closing out the first 20 minutes of play on a 10-0 run to take a 25-24 halftime lead.

The Purple Knights played well in the second half as they opened up a 13-point lead, 48-35, with 7:52 remaining, but the Redhawks battled back to cut the lead to only four, 53-49, with just over two minutes to play, before Bridgeport put the game away outscoring the hosts, 11-7, in the final two minutes.

Senior JoJo Swift (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led a balanced UB offensive attack with a game-high 17 points. Classmate Ognjen Zoric (Subotica, Serbia) chipped in 12 points, and senior Ivan Simic had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds; as did junior Sean Berry (Irvington, N.J.) who netted 10 points and grabbed 10 boards.

Jamaal Carter led Roberts Wesleyan scoring 14 points.

RWC struggled from the free throw line on Friday hitting only 9-of-22 free throws.  The 56 points scored by the Redhawks is also a season low scored by an opponent versus UB during the 2013-14 season.

The Purple Knights are right back in action tomorrow at Daemen College in Amherst, New York for a key East Coast Conference showdown.  Action is slated to begin at 4:00 p.m.