Men's Basketball Runs Winning Streak To Five With 70-63 Road ECC Win At NYIT

Old Westbury, N.Y.-The University of Bridgeport men's basketball team ran its winning streak to five and finished action in the month of December undefeated, as the Purple Knights posted a 70-63 East Coast Conference road win over the host NYIT Bears on Saturday afternoon on Long Island.  UB is now 7-3 overall and a perfect 4-0 in conference play.  NYIT falls to 3-8 overall, and the Bears are 0-3 in conference action.  The Purple Knights have also now won seven of their last eight outings.

Bridgeport got off to a slow start on Saturday trailing NYIT 7-0 and 12-2 before working their way back to tie things up at halftime, 38-38.

The Purple Knights gained control of the contest in the early going of the second half, as they opened up a nine-point, 54-45, lead with just under 11 minutes to play.  UB's largerst lead of the game was 11 points, 62-51, with 6:24 to play.

Five Purple Knights reached double-digit scoring led by junior Ernest Rouse (Freeport, N.Y.) with 14 points.  Rouse also added nine rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot.

Ernest was joined in double figures by classmates Eddie Asamoah (Calgary, Canada) and Devon Elliott (Brooklyn, N.Y.), each with 13 points, and senior Willie Williams III (Norwalk, Conn.) and newcomer Jesse Jones (Jr., Irvington, N.J.), who each scored 11 points.  Senior Naqwan Crowell (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) was just shy of double figures netting eight points on the afternoon.

On the boards for Bridgeport, Williams notched a double-double grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds, and Asamoah joined Rouse with nine boards.

NYIT's Fred Rivers led four Bears in double-figure scoring with 15 points.

The UB men's basketball team returns to the court and continues its five-game road trip at Dominican (N.Y.) College on Sunday, January 4, 2015.  Tip-off is slated for 2:00 p.m.