NJIT will look to get into the win column for the first time in 2010-11 when it hosts NYU-Poly Monday night at 7 pm in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
The Highlanders, who opened the season with a hard-fought 75-70 loss on Saturday afternoon against Manhattan, will host NYU-Poly for the second time in the last two years. The Fighting Blue Jays will be playing for the first time this season.
Junior captain Isaiah Wilkerson was on top of his game in the loss to Manhattan, leading all scorers with 21 points and all rebounders, with 11. Chris Flores scored 14 points, while junior transfer Arjun Ohri added 10 points off the bench in his NJIT debut.
Monday's game should have extra meaning for Ohri, who spent his first two years of college at NYU-Poly, where he was the team's star player in 2007-08 and 2008-09. In 2008-09, he ranked 9th in the nation among NCAA Division III players, averaging 23 points per game. He was also sixth in free throw percentage (91.7) and had individual scoring games of 46 points and 44 points. A resident of Bridgewater, NJ, Ohri, transferred to NJIT in the fall 2009 and sat out last season in accordance with NCAA transfer rules.
NJIT and NYU-Poly (formerly known at Polytechnic University) were regular opponents before NJIT moved up to Division II in 1997, where the Highlanders stayed until reclassifying to their current Division I level. The basketball series between the schools has been contested 58 times, with NJIT holding a 49-9 lead, including last December 30, when the Highlanders scored a 67-31 win (Flores scored 18 points, Wilkerson scored 16, and Sammy Schickel added 12 on that day).
Jason Buckner, a 6-foot-7 senior who scored 7 points and grabbed 7 rebounds against NJIT on that day, is back for NYU-Poly, as is Anthony Mattola, a 6-3 senior, who added 6 points and 5 rebounds. The Fighting Blue Jays, who were hurt by turnovers and poor shooting when they played the Highlanders last year, held their own on the boards, getting 35 rebounds to 38 for NJIT.
The only opponents to face NJIT/NCE more frequently in basketball are Stevens (65 games) and Drew (64 games). NYU-Poly competes in the Skyline Conference, a league that had NJIT as a founding member in 1989-90. The Highlanders stayed in the Skyline until they made the move to Division II in 1997.
The coach of NYU-Poly, in his second year at the helm after a playing career at the school, is Joshua Washington. He also earned his master's degree from NYU-Poly in 2008.
Fans unable to make the game can follow all the action live on www.njithighlanders.com, which will carry a webcast play-by-play and commentary from Jon Schaeffer, as well as an in-game real-time stat feed.
