Box score
STATEN ISLAND, NY—Chris Flores and Isaiah Wilkerson combined for 44 points and NJIT held Wagner to 34 percent shooting from the floor Monday night, as the visiting Highlanders defeated the Seahawks for the second time this season, 65-56.
The win for NJIT was filled with personal and team milestones, including:
--a career-high 25 points for the freshman Flores
--a career best-tying 5 assists for the sophomore Wilkerson, who took over the game at critical junctures of the decisive second half and finished with 19 points.
--career best-tying totals in rebounds (10) and assists (7) for junior Jheryl Wilson
--the first away win in 34 months for the Highlanders, who last won on the road in Farmville, VA, at Longwood on February 19, 2007 (78-74).
Coincidentally, Monday's win against Wagner completed a two-game season sweep for NJIT against the Seahawks, marking the first time NJIT has defeated the same team twice in a season since 2006-07, when the Highlanders took two from Longwood (NJIT had defeated Wagner, 56-51, just over a month ago, on November 24 in Newark).
Wagner had three double-figure scorers, led by sophomore guard Chris Martin's 18 points. Senior center Michael Orock had a double-double, with 11 points and 10 rebounds, following 22 points and 14 rebounds at NJIT last month. And freshman Josh Thompson added 10 points for the Seahawks.
The Seahawks shot under 40 percent from the field in each half and finished at 34 percent overall on 21-for-61 from the floor, including 4-for-24 on three-point tries. NJIT, meanwhile, made 59 percent of its second-half shots, connecting on 13 of 22 tries, including 12-for-17 (71 percent) inside the three-point line.
Flores, who fell two points shy of the NJIT record for points in a Division I game (27, done twice in three seasons), scored nine points in the first half and 16 in the second half against Wagner.
He had scored his previous career-high 19 points in back-to-back games at Saint Peter's and at Rutgers, before stubbing his toe with just four points at Virginia in NJIT's previous game. He quickly gave notice that there would be no slump, accounting for nine of NJIT's first 12 points against Wagner.
Flores was even more prolific in the second half, putting up a nice game's worth of numbers—16 points on 6-10 from the field (including a three-pointer) and 3-4 from the foul line, plus five rebounds—in 18 minutes of action after the intermission.
Even so, Flores did not stand alone for the Highlanders in the second half or in the game. Wilkerson finished with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
Thirteen of Wilkerson's points came in the second half and none were more timely than in a brief, but crucial second-half stretch that set the tone for the rest of the game. The Highlanders, who actually led the entire second half, had been unable to put a comfortable amount of space between themselves and Wagner and the score stood at 45-41 for NJIT for more than two minutes.
Finally, Wilkerson scored a layup with 6:50 remaining, sparking an 10-2 run in a span of 2:21, with the first eight points coming from the sophomore captain. The outburst enabled NJIT to go up 55-43 with 4:29 to play.
Wagner's Chris Martin scored seven straight of his team's own points, but the Seahawks still trailed by nine as the game clock went to 2:51. Even so, things got tighter than NJIT would have liked, as Martin's last two points, on free throws at 2:51, began a 6-0 spurt that trimmed the deficit to five with 1:49 left.
But Flores drove the ball to the basket to halt Wagner's mini-run, Wilson and Nick Lopez each made one of two free throw tries and Wilkerson, who finished the game 10-for-12 from the foul line, scored the game's last two points on free throws with less than 12 seconds remaining, as the Highlanders closed out the win.
Lopez, a freshman forward, made his first college start in a realigned NJIT five and finished second on the team with 7 rebounds, as the Highlanders outrebounded Wagner, 45-35.
He started up front as a result of Wilkerson's move to the backcourt, which was necessitated, in part, by an injury to PJ Miller, who has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left foot and will miss at least the next few weeks.
Miller, who started eight of NJIT's first 10 games at guard, missed minutes two games ago at Rutgers, when he left the game favoring the foot. He returned in that game, but did not suit up in the next game at Virginia and underwent diagnostic tests when the team returned to Newark last week.
In addition to the move for Wilkerson, a natural guard, back to his old position, more playing time is available to Sammy Schickel, who is in his first playing season after missing all of last year with an injury. Schickel, a big, strong guard, tied his career high with 21 minutes and he had his best scoring game against a Division I opponent, with seven points (he scored 13 against Division III St. Joe's of New York, but his high against a DI foe had been four points).
The Wagner game also marked the return of fifth-year senior center Dan Stonkus, who played 17 minutes in his season debut. Stonkus, who started 84 games the previous three seasons, had been out this year since early September, when he tore his meniscus in an accident at his family home.
He underwent knee surgery and the initial prognosis was that he might miss the whole season. However, his hard work in rehab combined with no setbacks got him cleared to play more than a month sooner than the early best-case predictions.
His individual line against Wagner was not impressive, but he tightened NJIT's interior defense, which had been a weak spot in many of the first 11 games, and he helped tie up Wagner's rebounders, clearing the way for teammates to come away with the ball, especially on the defensive boards.
NJIT will close out the 2009 calendar with a rare Wednesday afternoon game, hosting NYU-Poly (formerly known as Polytechnic University) at 2 pm in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
