Box score

NEWARK, NJ—Senior forward Jamal Smith scored a game-high 19 points, including six in a decisive late second-half run, leading visiting Wagner to a 68-58 men's basketball win over NJIT on Sunday afternoon in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

Smith, a fifth-year player who is one of four senior starters (three are fifth-year seniors) for the Seahawks, came up big in the face of his team's biggest challenge of the day.

NJIT, which trailed by 12 at halftime, played its best sustained stretch of the season and outscored the visitors, 25-12, over the first 10:47 of the second half. The Highlanders climbed into the lead, going up, 47-46, when Paulius Skema made the first of two free throws with 9:13 left.

The Highlanders kept the lead for another 1:21 before Wagner answered with a 12-1 run (including six points for Smith) in a span of 4:24 from the 7:52 mark to 3:28, transforming the one-point deficit into a 58-48 lead.

Joining Smith as double-figure scorers for Wagner were senior Llewchean Radford (13 points), and senior Joey Mundweiler and junior Michael Orock (10 apiece).

Senior Justin Drummond led Wagner in rebounds (7) and junior Doug Elwell came off the bench for seven assists.

The Highlanders also had four double-figure scorers, led by sophomore Jheryl Wilson, who finished with 16 points. Wilson, who was out of the starting lineup for the first time in this season's 12 games, had a quiet first half (two points in 10 minutes), but finished with what was likely the most effective offensive game of his career.

The 16 points tied his career high (done twice before) and he shot 6-for-8 from the field, while also handing out an NJIT season-best five assists with only one turnover 28 minutes. He accounted for 13 of NJIT's last 19 points over the final 13:04.

NJIT sophomore forward Paulius Skema added 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while freshman Isaiah Wilkerson scored 11 points and captain Gary Garris scored 10 before fouling out with less than two minutes left. Garris also made a career-best and game-high five steals.

Skema, who took over the team season rebound lead, registered his second career double-double and his second this season, following a 13-point, 11-rebound effort against Monmouth on November 29.

Wilkerson, who made his first college start in the Wagner game, continued to be a positive contributor through his first three games for NJIT. Coincidentally, he is from Wagner's home base of Staten Island and his older brother, Hassan Wilkerson, was a regular starter for the Seahawks from 1999 to 2002.

He followed up a 12-point game last Wednesday at Rutgers with an 11-point effort against Wagner. Wilkerson adds the ability to score in a variety of ways to the NJIT arsenal. His ability to create opportunities for himself or others if a designed play falters is especially important on a team that has struggled when plays break down.

NJIT has reason to expect him to get better. Despite his already quick assimilation into the team since coming aboard on December 20, he is likely to become even more effective as he and his teammates become more used to playing together.

NJIT's starting center Dan Stonkus spent most of the game in foul trouble after being whistled twice in the first four minutes, but he collected eight rebounds in 18 minutes of action. The hard-working junior has 17 rebounds in the last two games.

Another noteworthy Highlander on Sunday was freshman Mike Maczko, who made his first college start and scored a season-high seven points, including a pair of first-half three-point buckets.

Wagner, a 23-win team last season, lost three starters from that squad, but has used its strong veteran presence to build another solid start under veteran head coach Mike Deane, who has 424 wins in the 25th season of a career that includes four NCAA berths and four NIT berths in stops at Siena, Marquette and Lamar.  

The Seahawks came into Sunday's game allowing their opponents to make just over 40 percent of their shots and Wagner owned wins over Saint Peter's and Stony Brook, both of which had defeated the Highlanders.

NJIT managed just two points in the opening 6:15, but the Highlanders were effective on the defensive end and stayed in the game, pulling to within a bucket, 12-10, on Gary Garris' three-pointer with 11:10 remaining.

The Wagner lead, which went back as high as seven points, was down to five when the visitors got a late 9-2 spurt capped by Mundweiler's three-pointer that made the score 31-19 with 2:29 left in the half.

The teams traded a three-point basket each the rest of the way and Wagner led at the break, 34-22, paced by nine points from Radford and six each for Smith, Mundweiler and Orock, Wagner's only non-senior starter.

NJIT had six first-half points apiece from Gary Garris, Maczko and Skema.

NJIT got a defensive stop on the first possession of the second half and then got a three-pointer from Wilkerson to set the tone and close the score to 34-25 with 19:32 left.

The Highlander comeback was not a quick strike, however, and they still trailed by nine with 14:39 left and by seven after Justin Drummond's dunk for Wagner at 13:21.

However, Wilson scored on a layup at 13:04 and then hit a three with 12:33 showing to pull NJIT to within two, 44-42.

Drummond scored a quick layup in response, but Wilson got the points back on two free throws with 12:04 left and then Wilkerson tied it on a layup at 11:33.

Wagner had four empty possessions and NJIT had three, before Skema put the Highlanders on top, 47-46.

Smith, who finished 9-for-13 from the field, missed for Wagner and Wilkerson missed a three-point shot for NJIT, but Orock, who caught the ball in too deep under the basket, gathered himself and then laid the ball in, putting the Seahawks on top to stay with 7:52 left and sparking the decisive 12-1 run in the process.

Trailing by 10 heading into the final three minutes, NJIT tried to get back by fouling and trading free throws for possessions. However, Wagner foiled the strategy by scoring its last 10 points on foul shots and getting three offensive rebounds after missed free throws in the final 1:38.

Sunday's 58 points against Wagner, a solid defensive team, were a season-high for the Highlanders.

NJIT's challenging week will continue on New Year's Eve when the Highlanders host Lehigh at 2 pm in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.  Lehigh is 8-3.

NJIT will close the week with a Saturday game at Vermont, which is 7-3, with two of the losses in overtime.