Box Score
BALTIMORE—NJIT rallied back from a 19-point second-half deficit to tie the game with 4:11 left. But in the end, Loyola, behind a spectacular 40-point night from sophomore guard Jamal Barney, slipped past the visiting Highlanders, 70-62, in men's basketball Wednesday.
Barney, a Baltimore native who spent his freshman season at Providence, scored 18 points in the first half for Loyola and 22 in the second to save his team against a spirited comeback by the visiting Highlanders.
NJIT had four double-figure scorers, paced 17 points for junior captain Gary Garris. Jheryl Wilson, in action for the first time since sustaining a concussion on New Year's Eve, added 14 points for NJIT, while freshman Isaiah Wilkerson scored 12 and sophomore Justin Garris, Gary's younger brother, finished with 11 points.
For Loyola, Barney's classmate, forward Isaac Reid, took game rebound honors with 11, followed by Barney's eight, as the Greyhounds fashioned a 41-33 team advantage on the boards against NJIT. Four different Highlanders—Wilson, Wilkerson, Justin Garris, and Dan Stonkus--collected six rebounds apiece. Stonkus added three blocked shots.
Loyola, including Barney, did not shoot well from the field (17-for-57, 29.8 percent as a team, with 10-for-27 for Barney).
But the Greyhounds were tremendous at the foul line, making 32 of 38 tries (84 percent) as a team, led by Barney's 18-for-22. In the final analysis Loyola's 14-point advantage at the foul line (32-18) proved crucial to securing the win.
Barney's effort against NJIT Wednesday night was historic. His 18 made free throws were a single-game school record for Loyola, which is in its 99th season of intercollegiate basketball.
Further, his performance marked the fifth time in the program's history that someone had scored as many as 40 points in a game. Coming on the heels of his 41 points in an 86-62 win over Canisius on January 3, Barney became the first Loyola player to reach 40 points twice in a career, let alone in a season or in a period of less than two weeks.
He also far exceeded the highest individual total for an NJIT opponent in the program's Division I era, which began in 2006. The previous standard was 29, which had been done twice.
Things began well for the Highlanders to open the Loyola game. Facing an opponent that prefers a fast pace, NJIT played at its own tempo and built a 12-6 lead after Wilkerson's bucket with 13:53 left in the first half.
But the Highlanders, who would manage just seven points for the rest of the half, went scoreless for more than five minutes and saw their 12-6 lead turn into a 17-12 deficit.
Even with the scoring difficulties, NJIT stayed within hailing distance before the Greyhounds hit a pair of unanswered three-pointers in the final 48 seconds of the first half to take a 36-19 lead into halftime. The last three, a shot by Reid from the top of the key, was a buzzer-beater, marking the third straight game in which NJIT's opponent drained a three-pointer at the horn.
Barney led all scorers at the break with 18 points, while Wilson's seven points topped NJIT.
Up by 17 points at halftime, Loyola got the first score of the second half, a layup by Brian Rudolph that enabled the Greyhounds to double up NJIT, 38-19, with 19:28 to play.
Instead of disappearing, NJIT, which had struggled to seven points in the last 13:53 of the first half, went on a 20-2 run over the 5:27 that followed Rudolph's bucket. The rally, capped by a Wilkerson layup off of a feed from Brendon Lyn, closed NJIT to within a point of the lead, 40-39.
By then, the storyline had become the determined Highlanders trying to overcome a superstar performance by Loyola's Barney.
After Rudolph's basket to open the second half, Barney scored his team's next 16 points—10 at the foul line. It wasn't until Tony Lewis made his only basket of the game with 5:11 remaining that someone other than Barney scored for the Greyhounds
After Lyn had pulled the Highlanders to within a point at 40-39 with 14:01 left, Loyola and Barney got the lead back to five with 12:27 left and to seven, 51-44, with 8:59 remaining.
However, each time the Greyhounds put some space between themselves and NJIT, the Highlanders fought back and they finally drew even at 56-56 when Gary Garris made the second of two free throws with 4:11 left.
Having erased all of the 19-point deficit, the Highlanders were unable to reclaim the lead and the long-sought tie lasted just eight seconds.
Loyola went on top for good when Reid hit the second of two free throws with 4:03 remaining. And Reid's foul shot triggered a decisive 10-0 Loyola run over the next three minutes that included six points for Barney and three for Brett Harvey.
Down 10 points heading into the final minute, NJIT got a three-point basket from Gary Garris with 51 seconds left, but could not get any closer than seven points, as Harvey converted four free throws in the final 42 seconds to cap the win for the home team.
NJIT, which has three of its next four games at home (two on campus in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center and one downtown in the Prudential Center) will begin the homestand on Saturday.
The Highlanders will host Penn on Saturday at 2 pm in the Fleisher Athletic Center. That game will be preceded by the annual Alumni Game, which is scheduled to start at 11 am.
