Listen live

Live stats

NEWARK, NJ—NJIT will use its bye week in the Great West Conference to host a pair of non-conference games, beginning Wednesday at 7 pm against California State University Bakersfield in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Wednesday's game will be a rematch of one of the most exciting best-played games in NJIT's Division I era, when the Highlanders visited Bakersfield, California, on January 10 and fell to the Roadrunners, 71-70, in a contest that was undecided right until the final buzzer.
 
The score in that game was tied five times (including at halftime) and there were 13 lead changes, as NJIT's biggest lead of the night was six and the biggest bulge for CSUB was seven, with 4:54 remaining. Even with that late deficit, NJIT fought back and trailed by just one after a 3-pointer by Chris Flores with 57 seconds still to play. Down two in the final 10 seconds, the Highlanders missed another 3-point try in a final bid to go ahead.
 
Isaiah Wilkerson of the Highlanders led all scorers with 24 points, which at that time matched his career scoring high (since surpassed). He also had six rebounds, a career best-tying five assists, and three steals.
 
The Roadrunners had four double-figure scorers, topped Donald Johnson's 15 points off the bench. He also had a game-high eight rebounds. Ace point guard Issiah Grayson, who averages 10.7 points per game, scored 10 against NJIT, but the last two were timely free throws that made it a two-possession game with four seconds on the clock.
 
On the season, the top scorer for the balanced Roadrunners is Stephon Carter (11.9 ppg), but there are three others averaging at least 9.2 points. Mo Hughley, a powerful 6-foot-7, 240-pound junior from Queens, NY, averages 5.4 points, but he scored 14 in 25 minutes the first time he faced the Highlanders.
 
Another Roadrunner of interest is junior Zach Lamb (9.4 ppg), the older brother of Jeremy Lamb, who emerged as a national star when he helped UConn win the 2011 National Championship. Zach Lamb has been hot, scoring 23 in his team's last game, a 72-63 win over San Diego last weekend and a career-best 27 points two games earlier against Nebraska Omaha. He scored seven points in the first NJIT game.
 
CSU Bakersfield's first-year head coach is Rod Barnes, who was the national 2001 Naismith Coach of the Year when he was in charge of the program at his alma mater, Ole Miss, which he guided to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. Barnes, the only person to be an all-Southeastern Conference honoree as a player and then later be selected SEC Coach of the Year, led Ole Miss to three NCAA bids and one NIT berth.
 
With 199 coaching wins at the Division I level, he will aim for number 200 against NJIT. He led Ole Miss for eight seasons and then Georgia State for four, prior to taking over at CSUB.
 
In addition to the 71-70 head-to-head win for CSU Bakersfield, both teams have also played NJIT's fellow Great West Conference member Texas-Pan American twice each. Three days before nipping the Highlanders, CSUB took down UTPA, 72-57, also in California. In a rematch on Feb. 8 in Texas, the Broncs beat CSU Bakersfield, 73-67. The Highlanders faced a similar fate, beating Texas-Pan American at home (58-57, Jan. 21) and losing in Texas (75-67, Feb. 16).
 
Wednesday's game in Newark is the only one in the Eastern Time Zone this season for CSU Bakersfield (NJIT's trip to California to face the Roadrunners was the first in the Pacific Time Zone for the Highlanders since November 2007). The last time CSUB played in the Eastern Time Zone was Feb. 19, 2011, for a game in Virginia at Longwood.
 
For NJIT, Isaiah Wilkerson is both the leading scorer (16.2 ppg) and rebounder (6.5 rpg). Wilkerson, whose career is winding down, with three regular season games, plus the 2012 GWC Tournament remaining, this month has set new personal records for points in a game (26 at Chicago State on Feb. 4) and rebounds (15 at Houston Baptist on Feb. 18).
 
Chris Flores is the only other Highlander averaging double-figure points (12.4) for the season, but Ryan Woods is close (9 ppg overall) and is at 10.2 ppg in nine conference starts. Lamar Kearse, who replaced Flores in the starting lineup last time out at Houston Baptist, is averaging 7.2 ppg and has 51 combined points in the last four games. PJ Miller is at 7.1 ppg and Arjun Ohri is at 6 ppg.
 
Fans unable to make the game can follow all the action live on www.njithighlanders.com, which will carry a webcast play-by-play and commentary from Matt Provence, as well as an in-game real-time stat feed. Audio coverage begins a few minutes before the 7 pm game.

NJIT will honor its 2011 Great West Conference-champion women's tennis team in ceremonies at halftime