FLUSHING, N.Y. (Jan. 19, 2019) – Tyrese Crosdale made seven three-pointers in the first half but the Queens College men's basketball team needed a last-second free throw from Dwayne Henry Jr. to claim an 80-79 victory over District of Columbia on Saturday (Jan. 19) at Fitzgerald Gymnasium.
 
Crosdale totaled 28 points for Queens (4-14, 4-4 ECC), as the sophomore guard ended the contest with eight threes to go along with seven rebounds. Keenan Gorski added 19 points for the Knights with five boards and Henry had ten points (all from the free throw line) including the game-winning shot from the charity stripe with five assists. Wayne Li collected nine rebounds to go along with seven rebounds while Shomari Redd had five points and five assists as well.
 
District of Columbia (9-8, 2-5 ECC) was paced by Zachary Olukanni's team-high 26 points; Olukanni went 10-for-17 from the field. Kevin Cox contributed 15 points and nine rebounds and Quadire Truesdale added ten points, five assists and two steals. Juanye Colon chipped in 14 points off the bench, including the game-tying three-pointer with under six seconds to play in regulation.
 
The Knights jumped out to an 18-4 advantage in the game's first eight minutes with Crosdale knocking down three long-range jumpers in that span. The Firebirds clawed their way back to a ten-point deficit after a jumper by Olukanni with five-and-a-half minutes to play in the opening frame made the score 27-17 but Crosdale caught fire. The sophomore hit four straight three-pointers to spur a personal 12-5 run and helped QC end the half up by a score of 47-30.
 
UDC opened the second half with four points as Cox knocked down a three-pointer and the ensuing free throw after a shooting foul by Gorski. The Knights still held a ten-point advantage at the midway mark of the half, and Queens pushed the edge up to 68-54 on back-to-back layups by the Australian sophomore. Back the Firebirds came, however, on a 10-4 run to claw within an eight-point deficit at 72-64 with six minutes to play. Crosdale would score another three-pointer---his eighth and final treble of the afternoon---to bring Queens back up to a double-digit lead at 75-64. The Firebirds closed the game on a 15-5 run, but the drama was saved for the final possessions.
 
Colon hit a step-back three-pointer off a feed from Kerry Kirkwood to even up the score at 79-all with six seconds to play and Queens would get one shot at the game-winning basket. Henry would go coast-to-coast for a lay-up attempt at the buzzer but his effort was viciously blocked away by Cox; however, a foul was called on the Firebirds forward with four-tenths of a second remaining. Henry---who had made all the free throws that he had attempted to this point in the game---missed the first free throw before making the second attempt. A three-quarters court heave at the buzzer by the Firebirds came up short, securing the win for Queens.

The Knights currently hold the fourth-place spot in the East Coast Conference standings and will wrap up the first half of league play on Wednesday (Jan. 23) with a trip to Rockville Centre to face Molloy at 7 p.m.