Nov. 13, 2007

Box Score

SEATTLE, WA - The NJIT men's basketball team jumped into the deepest end of the national college basketball pool Tuesday night, falling at Washington, 88-47, in the first round of the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off West Regional.

Washington is one of the elite programs in college basketball. The Huskies' 93 wins over the previous four seasons are the most of any team in the Pac-10 Conference, which is one of the half dozen perennial power conferences in the nation.

Washington is the nation's only program to have a player taken in the first round of each of the last three NBA drafts. Among the three is 2006-07 NBA Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy.

While Roy was playing his last season in a Washington uniform, NJIT was facing a schedule of 27 games against NCAA Division II opponents. The Highlanders are beginning their second season of facing Division I foes.

Against that background, Tuesday's final score and some of the statistics that came with it shouldn't have been a huge surprise.

Still, the Highlanders did a lot of good things as individuals and as a team.

Looking at the basics, Washington had five double-figure scorers, led by senior Tim Morris, who came off the bench for 16 points.

The bigger, stronger Huskies had a 46-25 advantage in rebounds and NJIT was hurt by 29 turnovers, which came in the face of aggressive full-court pressure by Washington for all but the last few minutes. The Highlanders also did themselves no favors by shooting 2-for-13 as a team at the foul line.

Washington's first-team all-Pac-10 junior forward Jon Brockman barely missed a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 9 rebounds.

The statistical leaders for NJIT were freshman guard Justin Garris, who scored a team-best 10 points and Nesho Milosevic, who led the Highlander rebounders, with six.

Garris was a revelation, shooting 2-for-4 on three-point shots, plus showing a willingness to drive the ball to the basket, where he was frequently able to beat his defender off the dribble.

NJIT's other freshman guards also showed some positives. Brendon Lyn continued to make use of his quickness to drive to the basket. Tyler Epps came off the bench for five points in 15 minutes. And Jheryl Wilson refused to back down against the Huskies, pulling down five rebounds--second-best for NJIT.

The Highlanders fell behind early, 17-3, in the opening 5:39. But they fought back and closed to within 10 points on four occasions, the latest at the 5:45 mark of the first half on a Dan Stonkus layup the cut the deficit to 32-22.

Washington outscored the Highlanders, 13-2, the rest of the way for a 45-24 halftime lead, as Brockman and Morris each had 10 first-half points. Garris (6 points) led NJIT.

NJIT scored the first two baskets of the second half, closing to 45-28 after Garris scored with 18:35 left, but the Huskies answered with six quick points.

Still, Washington had only stretched its 21-point halftime lead to 23, 57-34, after Epps came off the NJIT bench to nail a three from the top of the key 8:29 into the second half.

Washington went on a 25-3 run over the next 5:23 to stretch its lead to 82-37 with 3:06 left. But the Highlanders, who kept playing hard, outscored the home team, 10-6, in the last three minutes.

The Highlanders played their first game without head coach Jim Casciano, who began a temporary leave of absence for personal health reasons two days earlier. Wendell Alexis, the interim coach, directed NJIT from the bench for the first time.

NJIT next will take on High Point, which lost the other West Region first round game to Utah on Tuesday night. High Point, a 23-win team last year and the preseason favorite to win the Big South Conference, will face the Highlanders at 4:30 pm PST in Seattle on Wednesday.