Box score
NEWARK, NJ—Freshman guard Chris Flores scored a game-high 18 points, leading NJIT to a 67-31 win over visiting Polytechnic Institute of NYU in men's college basketball Wednesday afternoon in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
Flores was one of three double-figure scorers in the game for the NCAA Division I Highlanders, who raised their season record to 5-8 with the win over 2-4 NYU-Poly, which competes in NCAA Division III.
Coming two days after a 65-56 win at Wagner on Monday night, the Highlanders achieved back-to-back wins for the first time since they won their first two games in the program's Division I era when they defeated Manhattan and Rider to begin the 2006-07 season.
Sophomore guard Isaiah Wilkerson added 16 points for NJIT against the Fighting Blue Jays Wednesday afternoon, followed by 12 off the bench for sophomore guard Sammy Schickel.
Wilkerson made a career-high seven steals for the Highlanders, who converted 30 NYU-Poly turnovers into 26 points. Flores and freshman forward Nick Lopez shared the rebounding lead for the Highlanders at seven apiece, while junior guard Jheryl Wilson had six assists for NJIT.
NYU-Poly's leader in points and rebounds was junior forward Jason Buckner, who put up seven points and seven rebounds.
Junior forward Anthony Mattola scored the game's first basket for the Fighting Blue Jays and the score was tied early at 4-4, but Flores hit a three-point basket to break the tie at the 16:19 mark, sparking a 9-0 NJIT run and the Highlanders continued to stretch their lead throughout the first half.
The 9-0 run put the Highlanders on top, 13-4, at 14:11 and they used a 13-0 burst, also ignited by a Flores trey, from 10:04 to 7:26 to take a 30-10 lead. NJIT closed the first half by netting the last 17 points in a run that covered the final 4:26 of the period to build their 47-16 halftime advantage.
Wilkerson led the way with 14 points, followed by 13 for Flores through the opening half.
Having limited NYU-Poly to 16 first-half points on 6-for-18 shooting from the floor, NJIT actually did better in the second half, holding the visitors to 15 points on 18.5 percent shooting (5-27).
However, after making 55 percent of their shots from the field and 11-for-12 at the foul line in scoring 47 points in the first half, the Highlanders did not shoot well in the second half (29 percent) and added only 20 points to their first-half total.
The game with NYU-Poly marked a revival of one of the most frequently-contested series in the history of Highlanders basketball. Wednesday's game was the 58th between the two schools and dates back to the 1929-30 season, when NJIT was transitioning from Newark Technical School to Newark College of Engineering and NYU-Poly was known as Brooklyn Poly. From 1985 until its 2008 affiliation with New York University, Poly's full name was Polytechnic University.
The Highlanders now lead the all-time series between the programs, 49-9. The only series that have been contested more frequently in NJIT/NCE annals are the ones with Stevens (65 games) and Drew (64 games).
Before Wednesday, the last meeting between the schools had been on February 5, 1997. NJIT reclassified from NCAA Division III to Division II in 1997-98 and then on to Division I in 2006-07 and the series had been dormant until this season.
Having played at home for the first time since December 5, the Highlanders will return to the road for their next five games, beginning with a Saturday night contest at Lehigh in a 7:30 pm start. That game will be carried live on njithighlanders.com, with Matt Provence describing the action. It will be the first live webcast of a men's basketball away game on the official NJIT athletics web site.
