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NEWARK, NJ--NJIT men's basketball returns home for a Sunday matinee, taking on a long-time foe that was off the schedule for more than a decade, but has become a regular on NJIT's early-season schedule the for three seasons. The Highlanders will entertain the Fighting Bluejays of NYU-Poly in a cross-divisional game at 2 pm in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Formally known by the full name of Polytechnic Institute of New York University, NYU-Poly was a regular opponent of NJIT/NCE (first played each other in 1929) before the Highlanders reclassified to NCAA Division II in 1997 and ultimately to Division I (2006). The basketball series between the schools has been contested 59 times, with NJIT holding a 50-9 lead.
 
The only opponents to face NJIT/NCE more frequently in basketball are Stevens (65 games) and Drew (64 games). NYU-Poly competes in the Skyline Conference, a league that had NJIT as a founding member in 1989-90. The Highlanders stayed in the Skyline until they made the move to Division II in 1997.
 
The series, on hiatus after 1997, was revived on December 30, 2009, with a 67-31 win for the Higjhlanders. Last year on November 15, NJIT came out a 96-49 winner in a game the Fighting Blue Jays led by a point, 24-23, with 5:54 remaining in the first half.
 
NJIT comes into action having lost a pair of road games against its two Division I opponents. The Highlanders dropped a 62-48 decision in the opener at Manhattan on November 12. In that game, NJIT led by seven midway through the second half, but faded and fell behind for good with 6:52 left. Highlander senior Isaiah Wilkerson was stellar, leading all scorers with 23 points, while shooting 10-for-14 from the field.
 
The Highlanders hosted their first non-Division I foe of the year two days later and rolled past Penn State Abington, 113-61, for NJIT's highest scoring total since a 118-74 win over Concordia (NY) on January 3, 1999 during the Division II era.
 
Facing its most formidable foe to date, UMass, Thursday night, the Highlanders hung in against the unbeaten Minutemen and were tied, 26-26, with 5:13 left in the first half. However, UMass closed the half with an 18-2 run that featured five 3-point baskets and a conventional 3-point play to take control for good.
 
NJIT trimmed the deficit as low as 11 points a couple of times in the second half, the latest at 9:07, but it never got closer than that. Wilkerson again paced the Highlanders, taking game scoring honors with 18 points and leading NJIT on the boards, with eight. Chris Flores added 11 points, while sophomores Kherel Silcott, with eight points, and Lamar Kearse, with seven rebounds, set new personal standards in those categories.
 
The schools first played each other in basketball over 80 years ago, and NJIT, with its location in Newark, and NYU-Poly, with its largest campus in Brooklyn, NY, are both urban technological institutes.
 
But there is another tie that is somewhat unusual, especially considering the fact that they play in different NCAA divisions. NJIT senior Arjun Ohri, who has started the first three games this year for the Highlanders, began his college academic and athletic career as a member of the Fighting Blue Jays, playing for them in in 2007-08 and 2008-09.
 
In 2008-09, Ohri ranked 9th in the nation among NCAA Division III players, averaging 23 points per game. He was also sixth in free throw percentage (91.7) and had individual scoring games of 46 points and 44 points. A resident of Bridgewater, NJ, Ohri, transferred to NJIT in the fall 2009 and sat out 2009-10 in accordance with NCAA transfer rules.
 
Last season, his first as a Highlander, Ohri was a valuable reserve, playing in 22 games and finishing sixth on the team with 5.5 points per game. This year, the senior has started all three games and is the second-leading scorer behind Wilkerson, with an average of 11 ppg.
 
This season, NYU-Poly is working under a new head coach, Nolan Adams, who was previously an assistant at Mount Saint Vincent, which also plays in the Skyline Conference. Adams also coached at St. Joseph's (NY) and is a founder of the Brooklyn Bears AAU team.
 
Anthony Mottola, who led NYU-Poly with 17 points in last year's game at NJIT, graduated in 2011 as a 1,000-point career scorer. However, Eric Southworth, now a senior, is back and he scored 10 points off the bench last year against the Highlanders. Southworth and freshman Jethro Auguste shared the team scoring lead in NYU-Poly's first game this season earlier this week. Auguste is one of eight freshmen listed on NYU-Poly's 14-man roster.
 
Fans unable to make the game can follow all the action live on www.njithighlanders.com, which will carry a webcast play-by-play and commentary from Matt Provence, as well as an in-game real-time stat feed. Audio coverage begins a few minutes before the 7 pm game.