Box score

CHICAGO--Isaiah Wilkerson scored five of his co-team high 23 points in the last 1:07 and NJIT scored the game's last seven points to pull out an 86-83 Great West Conference victory at Chicago State Saturday afternoon.

 

The last-minute come-from-behind win for the Highlanders was their first road victory in Great West competition began last season (seventh all-time GWC away game) and it was also their first road win this season overall.

 

The Highlanders, who were 4-2 at home in the GWC in 2009-10, but 0-6 against the same teams on the road, are off to a 3-0 conference start in 2010-11. They have won their first two Great West home games and now their first conference road game. NJIT is 6-11 overall, with four wins in its last five outings.

 

NJIT, which extended a 40-35 halftime lead to eight points 3:09 into the second half, saw its lead erased and more when Chicago State (5-15 overall, 2-2 GWC) went on a 17-2 binge in less than five minutes that swung the Cougars from being down eight to being up seven, 55-48, after a Victor Scott 3-pointer with 11:57 left.

 

The Highlanders didn't allow the deficit to get any bigger, but they played most of the rest of the game from behind and did not retake the lead until the final minute.

 

Indeed, NJIT trailed, 83-79, when Chicago State's conference Player of the Year candidate, senior center Carl Montgomery hit two free throws with 1:41 remaining.

 

Then Wilkerson and the Highlanders took over. On the ensuing possession, Wilkerson muscled his way to the basket for a layup and was fouled along the way, setting him up to complete a 3-point play.

 

Wilkerson's free throw on the 3-point play was NJIT's 16th in 18 tries from the line in the second half. The Highlanders, who have five losses by being outscored at the free throw line, were 19-for-25 there against Chicago State, outscoring the Cougars from the stripe, 19-12.

 

After Wilkerson's 3-point play trimmed the NJIT deficit to 83-82, CSU's Jonathon Montgomery, who had been spectacular in the second half (27 points, including 7-for-9 on 3-pointers in the half) , missed from distance.

Ryan Regis, who grabbed the defensive rebound, received a pass from Chris Flores on the other end of the court and put in the go-ahead layup with 43 seconds left, as the Highlanders went on top for the first time in more than 13 minutes.

 

After a Chicago State turnover, Wilkerson hit a jump shot with 12 seconds left to make it 86-83. And finally, Jonathon Montgomery, fouled on the floor with 2.8 seconds on the clock, missed two free throws, with NJIT controlling the second one and dribbling away the last couple of seconds.

 

Wilkerson shared the NJIT scoring lead with senior Jheryl Wilson, who got his 23 points with 12 in the first half (all on 3-pointers) and 11 in the second half. Flores added 12, a career-high and game-high 6 assists, plus 6 rebounds. Wilkerson was the game-high rebounder, with 7.

 

Another NJIT player of note was freshman Dytanya Johnson, who had his best college game, finishing with 6 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocked shots in 21 minutes of action.
 
Johnson, who started the first 10 games, but who has been coming off the bench since, first entered on Saturday after Carl Montgomery had drawn two fouls apiece on the first two men assigned to guard him en route to scoring CSU's first 13 points.

The freshman, who often got in foul trouble when he was starting, avoided doing so against Montgomery and slowed the Cougars' senior star enough that he stayed out of the scorebook for more than nine minutes.

 

For Chicago State, in addition to Jonathan Montgomery's career-high 29 points, Carl Montgomery (no relation) finished with 23 points.

Sophomore Victor Scott added 17 points for the Cougars, 15 of which came on 3-pointers. With Scott shooting 5-for-7 and Jonathan Montgomery shooting 7-for-11, the Cougars were 13-for-25 as a team from downtown.

 

The first half was close, with three ties and eight lead changes and neither side ahead by more than four until NJIT's Wilson nailed a three to make it 33-28 with 3:13 left. A later driving dunk down the lane by Johnson and then another three for Wilson gave the Highlanders an eight-point lead, 40-32 at 1:23, before the Cougars Scott made his fourth trey for the final scoring of the first half with 45 seconds left.

 

Each team had two double-figure scorers at halftime, as Scott and Carl Montgomery each had 12 for CSU, while Wilson had 12 and Flores had 10 for NJIT.

 

NJIT, which snapped an overall 16-game away losing streak with Saturday's win in Chicago, will come home for a 5 pm game on Monday in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center. The game against New York City College of Technology (aka City Tech) is starting early as part of Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night at NJIT.

 

The last previous road win for the Highlanders was on December 28, 2009, when they beat Wagner on Staten Island, 65-56. The road losing streak comes with an asterisk, however, as NJIT beat North Dakota on the neutral court at Utah Valley in the opening round of the 2010 GWC Tournament.