Box score

NEWARK, NJ—NJIT used a record-setting team offensive performance in defeating Houston Baptist, 96-84, for the Highlanders' third straight men's basketball win Saturday evening in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

NJIT, which set school records for most points (96), field goals (34) and best field goal percentage (.618 on 34-55) against a Division I opponent on Saturday, had four double-figure scorers, led by 23 from junior captain Isaiah Wilkerson. Sophomore Chris Flores added a season-high 19 points, while freshman Lamar Kearse came off the bench for 19 and senior Jheryl Wilson added 17.

Wilson's 17 points raised his career scoring total to 1,158 points, moving him up a spot to 16th on the NJIT career list. Flores has been in double-figures in six of the last seven games and Kearse raised his season scoring average to 10.3 points per game, joining Wilson and Wilkerson (12.1 ppg each) and Flores (11.5 ppg) with double-figure scoring averages.

Wilkerson was one point short of his personal career-best, netting an NJIT season-high 23 points against HBU, with 18 of them coming after halftime, which proved crucial in  helping the Highlanders hold off a sustained second-half charge by the visiting Huskies.

NJIT (5-10, 2-0 Great West Conference) led by 23 points in the opening minute of the second half, but the visiting Huskies got as close as seven, 84-77, after a three-pointer by Andrew Gonzalez with 2:47 remaining. The Highlanders answered with a 10-2 run over the ensuing 1:54, with eight of the NJIT points coming from the foul line, to regain control and finish off their third consecutive win.

The three-game winning streak is the longest for NJIT since it began Division I competition in 2006-07. The Highlanders had three sets of back-to-back wins—one in 2006-07 and two in 2009-10--before last Saturday, when they defeated Division III Marywood and followed with wins against Texas-Pan American and Houston Baptist in consecutive home games.

Houston Baptist (1-15, 0-2 Great West) lost its ninth in a row despite a game-high 27 points from Gonzalez, the preseason Great West Conference Player of the Year and a career-high 24 points from classmate Michael Moss.

Gonzalez scored 23 of his team's 56 second-half points as they fought back from a 49-28 halftime deficit. Gonzalez, who shot 1-for-7 from the field and had four points at the break, was 13-for-15 on free throws and 2-for-3 on three-point tries in the second half.

NJIT, which never trailed, made 10 three-pointers in the opening half, including one ahead of the halftime buzzer by Kearse, who scored 15 points in helping the Highlanders to their 49-28 lead at the break.

NJIT still led by 20, 72-52, after a Wilkerson three-pointer with 10:12 left, but the Huskies shot 5-for-6 from the field and 13-for-15 from the foul line over the next 7:25 in a 25-12 rally capped by the Gonzalez three that trimmed the deficit to 84-77 at the 2:47 mark.  

Wilkerson made the first of two free throws on the next possession and then Sean McCarthy scored his only bucket of the day from right under the basket on a baseline out-of-bounds play the next time the Highlanders got the ball.

Gonzalez made shot one-for-two on free throw opportunities the next two times down the floor for HBU and then, with the Huskies fouling almost instantly every time the Highlanders inbounded the ball, NJIT's PJ Miller hit a pair of foul shots to put his team back on top by 10, 89-79, with 1:49 left.

The Highlanders managed to hit just one of their next four foul shots before Kearse made a pair at 1:11 and Flores made two at 0:53 to get the lead back to 15, 94-79.

The previous team record for points against a Division I opponent was 91 vs. North Dakota on February 28, 2010, while the field goals record had been 30 (vs. Longwood on February 19, 2007 and vs. Chicago State on February 16, 2008). The old field goal percentage mark was .540 (27-50) vs. Utah Valley on January 30, 2010

NJIT, which completed its season-longest four-game homestand on Saturday, will step out of conference play for a game at Division I Independent Longwood in Farmville, VA, on Tuesday at 7 pm.