Box Score 

NEWARK, NJ—Guards Chris Flores and Arjun Ohri scored 12 points apiece, leading four double-figure scorers for NJIT, as the Highlanders defeated visiting NYU-Poly, 96-49, in college basketball Monday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

NJIT (1-1) also got 11 points and six assists from guard Jheryl Wilson and 10 points and a team-leading six rebounds from sophomore guard PJ Miller.

In all, 12 of the 13 men who played for the Highlanders scored in the victory over NYU-Poly, a Division III team playing its first game of the season.

Anthony Mottola scored a game-high 17 points for the Fighting Blue Jays, followed by John Martin's 11 points and 10 points off the bench for Anthony Southworth. NYU-Poly center Jason Buckner led all rebounders with eight.

The win did not come as easily as the final score would make it appear. NYU-Poly, which lost to NJIT, 67-31, when the teams played last December 30, stayed close for most of the first half Monday night, competing hard on defense, while shooting well and limiting its turnovers on offense.

The Fighting Blue Jays' early effort was rewarded when they pulled ahead, 24-23, on Mottola's jump shot with 5:54 left in the first half.

But the Highlanders outscored the visitors, 18-4, over the rest of the half and took a 41-28 halftime lead. NJIT's Flores had 10 points to lead all scorers at the half, while NYU-Poly had eight points from Southworth and seven from Mottola.

NJIT extended its late first-half dominance into the second half, rolling up a 25-6 advantage in the opening 7:30 out of the break for a 66-34 bulge with 12:30 left on the clock.

After holding the 41-28 lead after the first half, the Highlanders outscored NYU-Poly in the second half, 55-21. Their biggest lead was 48 points, at 96-48, with 1:33 left.

NJIT also asserted its superiority rebounding in the second half, pulling down 23 second-half boards to nine for the visitors after each team took down 18 rebounds in the first half.

The Highlanders shot 68 percent from the field (19-28) in the second half and 59 percent overall (36-61). Included in the total was 9-for-18 shooting on three-point tries.

Mottola, the senior forward, accounted for 10 of his team's 21 second-half points.

The co-scoring leader for the Highlanders on the night, Arjun Ohri, is a junior transfer who played his first two college seasons at NYU-Poly and ranked ninth nationally among Division III scorers in 2008-09, averaging 23 points per game.

NJIT will play its third home game to open the 2010-11 schedule, hosting Army on Thursday night in the Fleisher Athletic Center.

Army, which defeated NJIT in the first two men's basketball meetings between the schools in 2006-07 and 2007-08, returns to the Highlanders schedule for the time since the December 2008 meeting.

The Black Knights are 1-1 this year, having defeated Division III Vassar in the opener on November 12 and then lost to Central Connecticut State on Monday night. Army was 14-15 in 2009-10.