December 30, 2005

Box Score

WINTER PARK, FL - The New Jersey Institute of Technology men's basketball team continued its season-long trend of playing close games, nipping Mansfield of Pennsylvania, 71-69, in the consolation game of the 31st annual Winter Park Rotary Tangerine Tournament Friday night at Rollins College.

The Highlanders, 4-6 through their first 10 games, already have three overtime games, two two-point wins in regulation and a four-point regulation win. NJIT is 1-2 in the overtime games.

The result was also typical for Mansfield (4-5), which has four losses by two points, or less and has had six games decided by fewer than four points.

NJIT was paced by Kraig Peters' career-high 23 points, which included 5-for-7 shooting from three-point range. Clayton Barker and Courcy Magnus duplicated their scoring from the previous night, adding 20 and 15 points, respectively.

Mansfield, which starts three guards, got double-figure scoring from all of them. Dave Hoopes led the way, with 20 points, while Brandon DeShields scored 16 and Chris Greene netted 11 for the Mountaineers.

The game was not decided until the final buzzer. NJIT's Marc Milbourne Swan converted a three-point play on a layup and free throw, giving his team a 70-69 lead with 27 seconds left.

Mansfield committed its 23rd turnover on the next possession and was forced to foul Barker with seven seconds remaining. The junior guard hit the first of two free throws for a 71-69 lead, before Mansfield's three-point try missed at the buzzer.

Mansfield, which lost Thursday's opening round game to Hillsdale of Michigan, opened up with an 8-0 lead against NJIT. The Mountaineers stayed ahead throughout the first half, leading by as many as 13 and holding a 35-27 halftime lead behind Hoopes' 17 first-half points.

The Mounties opened the lead back to 13 points early in the second half, going up, 40-27, with just under 18 minutes to play.

NJIT, which spurted a couple of times in the second half, got back into contention with a 17-5 run over a 4:29 stretch, capped by Peters' layup that put the Highlanders ahead, 57-54, with 6:56 left.

There would be five ties the rest of the way, before Milbourne Swan's three-point play put NJIT on top to stay at the 27-second mark.

Friday's consolation game against Mansfield completes the out-of-conference part of the Highlanders' 2005-06 schedule. They will play their remaining 17 regular season games in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, starting with a January 7 visit to the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. The game at USP, the second part of a men's/women's CACC doubleheader, is scheduled for a 3 pm tipoff.