Box score

FARMVILLE, VA—Freshman forward Antwan Carter came off the bench for 18 points and 11 rebounds and his team turned 26 NJIT turnovers into 32 points Saturday afternoon in Longwood's 63-51 over the visiting Highlanders.

Carter, a long, slender big man, did most of his damage in the second half when he scored 14 of his points. He also pulled down five of his game-high 11 rebounds after the halftime break.

Besides Carter's 11 boards, the Lancers had three men with eight rebounds apiece—Billy Robinson, Jr.; Dana Smith; and, Jeffrey Ryan. Senior Ryan Bogan (13 points) was Longwood's other double-figure scorer. He also had four steals.

NJIT, too, had two double-figure scorers. Jheryl Wilson scored a game-high 20 points and Isaiah Wilkerson added 15.

Wilson, a sophomore whose career scoring high before this week had been 16 points, set a new high with 26 in NJIT's win over Bryant on Wednesday and followed with the 20 on Saturday against Longwood.

Wilkerson, a freshman, has played in 11 games for NJIT and has reached double-figure points totals in each of the last 10.

Sophomore Justin Garris grabbed a career-high nine rebounds to lead the Highlanders in that category, while junior Dan Stonkus pulled down eight boards, one shy of his season high.

Carter's 18 points accounted for the bulk of Longwood's 26-0 advantage in bench scoring, but perhaps the key statistic was the Lancers' 32-10 lead in points-off-of-turnovers. NJIT committed 26 turnovers—14 in the first half and 12 in second—while Longwood turned the ball over just nine times in the entire game.

In another outgrowth of the turnover disparity, Longwood got off 71 shots from the field to just 51 for NJIT. That disparity helped offset the fact that Longwood connected on 34 percent of its shots from the field, including 3-for-23 on three-point attempts.

Carter's efforts proved vital after NJIT, which trailed at halftime, 26-17, scored 10 unanswered points to start the second half, The opening spurt allowed the Highlanders to claim a 27-26 lead after Wilson's fast-break driving layup with 16:10 left in the game.

Shortly after NJIT's 10-0 charge out of the locker room, the Highlanders took what would be their biggest lead of the period, 30-28, on a three-pointer from Justin Garris with 14:40 remaining.

Longwood, helped along by four NJIT turnovers in the next 3:31, went on a 13-1 run that more than erased the Highlanders'  earlier gains.

Trailing, 41-31 after Longwood's Bogan made a three at the 11-minute mark, the Highlanders came back and closed to within five, 42-37, when Wilkerson got into the paint for two of his 10 second-half points with 9:16 left.

But the Lancers prroceeded to put the game out of NJIT's reach by attacking the basket and getting their next 10 points on a combination of drives and put-backs that stretched the lead to 52-39 lead with Robinson, Jr.'s offensive rebound and layup with 4:23 to play.

Both offenses started the game slowly and the score stood at 11-8 for Longwood just past the midpoint of the first half. Things picked up a bit, but neither team shot well—Longwood was 10-for-38 (26 percent) and NJIT was 7-for-23 (30 percent) from the field—but the Lancers had a 14-3 lead in points-off-of-turnovers and a 26-17 lead on the scoreboard through the first 20 minutes of play.

The Highlanders, who will play four of their next five games at home, are off until Wednesday, when they host Maryland Eastern Shore in a 7 pm game at the Prudential Center in downtown Newark.