Bridgeport, CT (March, 4, 2009) - Senior Teairez Stennis scored a game-high 20 points, had five assists and added three steals to help lead the number two seed, University of Bridgeport Purple Knights, to a 70-50 home win over the number seven seed, NYIT Bears, in the quarterfinals of the 2009 East Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament. 

NYIT closes out the 2008-2009 season with a 13-15 record, while UB, now 21-7 on the season, moves on to face the number three seed Adelphi University Panthers at Adelphi in Garden City, NY on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. in the tournament semifinals.

Senior Bryant Lassiter (Bay Shore, N.Y.), the Bears all-time leading scorer with 1,913 points, closed out his stellar career at NYIT with a team-high 13 points.   

The first seven minutes of the first half would be played closely. A Lassiter lay-up tied the score at 9-9 with just under 13 minutes to play. Bridgeport, however would gain control of the game over the next five minutes, scoring 12 unanswered points to grab a 21-9 lead.  UB would lead by as many as 17 points before heading into the half with a 34-19 lead.

The Bears came out flying in the second half and put together a 12-2 run, capped by eight straight points from junior Benny Flores (Stockton, Cal.), including back-to-back thre pointers, to make it a five point game, 36-31 with 15:36 to play. Bridgeport responded though, nailing thre consecutive three pointers of their own during a 9-0 run to recontrol the lead and build a 45-31 advantage at the 12:59 mark. The Bears would get no closer as UB increased their lead to as many as 25 before winning by the final margin.

Flores chipped in with 10 points in the loss. NYIT out-rebounded Bridgeport 42-38, but shot just 30 % (15-50) from the floor and 30.8 % (4-13) from the three point line. Ub connected on eight three pointers in the game, including five in the second half.