NJIT plays its second game in six days against the University of North Dakota, hosting the Fighting Sioux in a Great West Conference matchup on Senior Day 2010 in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
The teams had never met before February 23 and now they are set for a rematch inside of a week that actually would have come sooner if not for the winter storm that hit the tri-state region on Thursday morning and lasted into the evening on Friday.
Over 1,000 flights were cancelled on Friday and including UND's scheduled flight into Newark from Detroit, where the teams were en route after playing at Chicago State on Thursday (Chicago State won, 71-61)
Coincidentally, NJIT's original date with North Dakota in Grand Forks on February 11 was postponed by a different paralyzing storm that disrupted flight plans and made it impossible for the Highlanders to fly out of Newark on February 10 or on any of several subsequent days.
The first time NJIT and North Dakota faced off, the Fighting Sioux won the high-scoring game, 90-78. North Dakota shot a sizzling 16-for-25 from 3-point distance, including sophomore center Patrick Mitchell, who was an amazing 10-for-13 on threes and finished with 33 points, nearly doubling his previous career-high 17 points. NJIT got 25 points from freshman guard Chris Flores, including 20 points in the second half. Flores tied the NJIT Division I record with 6 3-point field goals, all of which came in the second half. The 25 points also tied his personal career high.
The Highlanders have three men averaging between 13 and 14 ppg, paced by Isaiah Wilkerson (13.5 ppg). Flores and Jheryl Wilson, who has 19 points in each of this week's two games, each get 13.4 ppg. Wilkerson is the top rebounder at 5.1 per game, followed closely by Wilson (5 rpg). Wilson and Flores are in a tight race for the team lead in assists (Wilson has 60 and Flores has 59), while Flores is the team steals leader at 50 (new NJIT Division I season record with four regular season games remaining, plus the Great West Conference tournament; Flores is tied for 39th in the nation in steals per game).
NJIT will honor departing seniors Dan Stonkus and Gary Garris in pregame ceremonies. Stonkus, a mechanical engineering major, is the only player to be part of all four teams in NJIT's Division I era, starting all but five games and appearing in all but two in his first three seasons combined.
This year, his task was made more difficult by a knee injury he suffered at home in early September. The injury required major surgery and it was feared he might not return until February, if at all. However, he worked diligently on his post-surgery rehabilitation and returned as an active player on December 28. He came off the bench in the first 10 games back and has become a starter in the last four, bringing his career totals to 101 games played and 88 starts.
He has compiled over 460 career rebounds and his 141 career blocks fourth all-time at NJIT and nearly triple as many as any other Highlander in the Division I era.
Garris, a finance major with a minor in computer science, has attended NJIT for three years, but was on the court for one. Originally enrolled at American University, he transferred to NJIT and sat out 2007-08 as per NCAA rules. In 2008-09, he set a Highlanders school record with 31 games started and led the team in rebounding (5.7 rpg) while adding 10.7 ppg and making 49 steals (a school Division I record that was just broken by Chris Flores).
He played all of last season with pain in both knees and underwent offseason surgery for tendinitis and has not returned to active playing.
Fans unable to make it to the game can follow all the action live on www.njithighlanders.com, which will carry a webcast play-by-play and commentary by Matt Provence, as well as an in-game real-time stat feed.
