Box score

AMHERST, MA—UMass closed the first half with an 18-2 run and the Minutemen remained unbeaten in three starts with a 79-58 win over visiting NJIT in non-conference men's basketball Thursday night in the Mullins Center on the UMass campus.

The score was tied at 26-26 after NJIT's Ryan Regis scored a fast-break layup with 5:13 left in the first half. But the Minutemen, who came in shooting under 33 percent on 3-pointers for the year, hit five straight threes plus a traditional three-point play to outscore the Highlanders 18-2 the rest of the way to halftime.
 
Three of the triples in the closing run, which ended with a 44-28 halftime lead for UMass, came from lanky 6-9, 185-pound sophomore Raphieal Putney, who finished the half 4-for-5 from distance. Junior forward Terrell Vinson, who finished with a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds), added six points in the run on a triple and layup, plus foul shot.
 
UMass had four double-figure scorers, led by Javorn Farrell's 17 points. Point guard Chaz Williams added 15 points and nine assists, while Vinson scored 13 and Putney had 12, all in the first half, off the bench.
 
The home team, much bigger throughout the lineup, dominated the rebounding, 50-33, led by 14 boards in 15 minutes for 6-9, 250-pound freshman Cady Lalanne.
 
NJIT (1-2) fell despite getting a game-high 18 points and a team-leading eight rebounds from senior captain Isaiah Wilkerson. Chris Flores (11 points) was the only other Highlander with double-figure points.
 
Two NJIT sophomores logged new career highs. Center Kherel Silcott scored eight points, shooting 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-4 at the foul line, and guard Lamar Kearse grabbed seven rebounds.
 
The Highlanders were sharp to open the game, claiming an 8-3 lead when Wilkerson drained a three 1:15 in, but UMass fought back and took a 10-9 lead on Vinson's three with 16:50 left.
 
However, the game stayed close throughout the first 14-plus minutes, with six more lead changes on the way to the decisive 18-2 UMass run to close the first half.
 
Putney's 12 points led all scorers at the break, followed by 11 for Vinson and 10 for Farrell. Wilkerson, who would later extend his streak of consecutive double-figure scoring games to 20, paced NJIT with seven first-half points, while Arjun Ohri scored six, both on 3-pointers. Ohri went on to total nine points and a team-leading four assists in the game.
 
The opening portion of the second half was a case of good news-bad news for the Highlanders. The good news was that despite being lit up from long distance down the stretch of the first half, they came out and defended well to open the second half, holding UMass to just four points through the opening 9:35 of the period. The bad news was that the Highlanders managed only nine points of their own in the same span and still trailed, 48-37 near the midpoint of the half.
 
It was still an 11-point game when NJIT's Chris Flores hit a jump shot to make it 52-41, with 9:07 left in the game.
 
The Minutemen then removed all doubt about the outcome with an 11-0 spurt over the next 3:01, capped by Freddie Riley's pull-up foul line jumper that made it 63-41 with 6:06 on the clock.
 
Williams, the dynamic UMass point guard who had been contained most of the night to that point, helped fuel the 11-0 run. He hit a 3-pointer and later made steals on back-to-back possessions,  setting up four points after taking the ball from Highlanders off the dribble. He was credited with an assist on a dunk by Vinson and he also passed to Farrell, who was fouled, erasing Williams' chance for an assist, but Farrell made the two ensuing free throws.
 
Down 22 after the 11-0 spurt for UMass, the Highlanders trimmed the deficit to 15 twice in the last three minutes, but could get no closer, before the Minutemen added six unanswered points in the last 30 seconds.
 
NJIT's next game is Sunday at 2 pm, when the Highlanders host NYU-Poly in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.