NEWARK, NJ—Jeremy Hence made a running three-point shot from just past center court, beating the final buzzer to lift visiting Army past NJIT, 63-60, in a men's basketball thriller Thursday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

Army gained possession under its own basket with 3.7 seconds remaining and the score tied at 60. The Black Knights got the ball to Hence, who took a couple of dribbles to move the ball past the center stripe and launched a shot that swished through the net from 45 feet away just ahead of the buzzer, but clearly so, to win the game.

Hence, a senior forward, finished with game-high totals of 19 points and 8 rebounds, while sophomore Ella Ellis added 14 points and 6 rebounds for Army (2-1).

NJIT (1-2) got 13 points off the bench from freshman point guard Lamar Kearse and 12 points from sophomore guard Chris Flores.

The biggest lead of the game for either team was eight points for Army at 18-10 with 12:11 remaining in the first half. NJIT soon fought back and took what would be its biggest lead, 29-23, with 3:52 left in the first half.

The Highlanders still led, 31-28, with 33 seconds left in the half, but Army got a bucket with 16 seconds left. Then, in a foreshadowing of the game's end, NJIT shot too quickly on its final possession, putting up a shot with seven seconds left.

Army's Chris Welker came down with the NJIT miss and on the other end, Army's Jason Pancoe made a running three-pointer, this one from a more conventional distance--the top of the key--to beat the halftime buzzer and give the Black Knights a 33-31 lead at the break.

Hence's 13 points led all scorers at the half, while Jheryl Wilson paced NJIT with 7 points.

Wilson's first four points of the night pushed him to 1,000 career points, making him the 23rd men's player in school history to reach that landmark. Wilson now has 1,003 points and is the first member of the 1,000-point club whose entire career has been played in NJIT's Division I era.

Three players who played part of their careers in Division I and part of their careers in Division II also scored more than 1,000 points. They were: Clayton Barker (1,617 points; Class of 2007); Marc Milbourne Swan (1,202 points; Class of 2007); and, Kraig Peters (1,179 points; Class of 2008)

Neither team led by more than four points in the second half until Army, trailing 54-51 after a bucket by NJIT freshman Kherel Silcott, with 4:14 remaining, went on a 9-0 run, capped by a CJ McElrath layup at 2:12 that made it 60-54 for the Black Knights.

NJIT answered with six straight points of its own, four by Flores, including a layup with 28 seconds to tie the score at 60.

The Highlander sophomore guard then intercepted Hence's long inbounds pass near center court and the Highlanders called timeout. The subsequent play found Flores open for a mid-range pull-up baseline jumper from the left side, that rimmed out. The rebound tipped off a Highlander out of bounds in the ensuing scramble, giving possession to Army 94 feet away with 3.7 seconds showing before the dramatic conclusion.

It wasn't only the two three-pointers at the end of each half that hurt NJIT. Army shot an impressive 10-for-22 from distance, while the Highlanders were just 5-for-23, including 1-for-12 in the second half. Three of NJIT's missed second-half three-point tries came during the 9-0 Army run that turned a 54-51 Highlander lead into a 60-54 Black Knight advantage in a matter of 2:02.

Although the loss was painful, there were plenty of positives for NJIT, including its constant ability to fight back whenever Army got on a roll.

Other pluses included the team's emerging depth, as the Highlanders got 26 points from their bench to 12 bench points for Army.

In addition, NJIT's two main point guards--PJ Miller and Lamar Kearse--combined to play 39 minutes and had 7 assists without a turnover, while shooting 7-for-11 from the field and scoring 19 points.

Thirteen of those points came from Kearse, the freshman, who has looked good in all three games, showing three-point range (2-for-2 on Thursday and 4-for-7 on the season), plus the ability to drive to the basket. He has 11 assists without a turnover in his first 60 minutes of college basketball.

NJIT, which has played its first three games at home, will be on the road for six of its eight remaining games before the new year. The difficult road ahead begins with a trip to face Vermont in Burlington for a 1 pm game on Saturday, November 27.