Box Score


NEWARK, NJ—Visiting St. Francis dominated the closing five minutes of the first half and the opening five minutes of the second half en route to a 79-60 non-conference men's basketball win over NJIT Saturday afternoon in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Ben Mockford and Akeem Johnson combined for 41 points atop the score sheet for St. Francis, which won for the first time in five tries this season. Two of the four losses for the Terriers were against Big East programs (75-71 in overtime against Seton Hall and 63-48 against St. Johns) and the other two were by a combined 10 points on the road at Lafayette and at Hofstra.
 
Johnson, a 6-foot-6 junior post player, who gave NJIT defensive matchup problems all day, finished with 19 points. His two free throws with 4:15 left in the first half to trigger a 13-0 closing run that pushed St. Francis from a two-point deficit to a 38-27 halftime lead over NJIT (2-3).
 
St. Francis continued its roll into the second half, outscoring the Highlanders, 10-2, for a 20-point lead, 49-29, on Mockford's jumper with 15:42 on the clock. The Terriers lead went as high as 24 points and never went under 14 the rest of the way.
 
Mockford, a sophomore transfer from Iona playing his first season at St. Francis, scored 22 points—11 in each half--and connected on 6-of-10 from 3-point distance. Johnson scored eight points in the first half and 11 in the second.
 
Freshman forward Jalen Cannon had a game-high eight rebounds coming off the bench for the Terriers. Five of his rebounds came on the offensive end for St. Francis, which posted 12 offensive rebounds as a team and owned a 15-7 advantage in second-chance points and a 36-26 lead in the paint in all.
 
Senior forward Isaiah Wilkerson led NJIT with 15 points followed by 13 points from Chris Flores and 11 from Ryan Woods. The junior Woods, who was making his second appearance since returning from shoulder surgery, played 17 minutes and shot 5-for-7, while leading the team with three assists and no turnovers.
 
Closing out periods has been a major problem for the Highlanders in each of their three losses.
 
In the season opener, a 62-48 defeat at Manhattan, NJIT was outscored 30-9 over the final 10:41 of the second half. In the next loss, at UMass, the Highlanders were tied at 26 with 5:13 left in the first half only to be outscored 18-2 the rest of the way to halftime.
 
Then, on Saturday, NJIT led most of the first half and had not trailed by more than three up to the point that took what would be its final lead of the day on Arjun Ohri's 3-pointer that made it 27-25 for the Highlanders with 5:11 left in the opening half.
 
St. Francis then rallied for 13 unanswered points, as NJIT got off just one shot, a missed 3-point try, and committed five turnovers following Ohri's three had made it 27-25.
 
Mockford's 11 points paced St. Francis, which led at the break, 38-27. Wilkerson had seven first-half points to lead the Highlanders.
 
Each team opened the half with a missed shot, but Dre Calloway drove through the Highlander defense for a layup with 19:11 left and Mockford drained a three 25 seconds later, before Wilkerson scored NJIT's first bucket of the second half to pull his team within 14, 43-39. But Johnson, Calloway, and Mockford each scored on consecutive possessions, pushing the Terrier lead to 49-29.
 
The Highlanders pulled to within 14 one more time, when Wilkerson's layup made the score 54-40 with 10:47 left.
 
But just as they ran off six unanswered the last time NJIT got to within 14, the Terriers responded to the latest mini-threat with seven straight points, getting a put-back layup from Cannon, two foul shots from Brent Jones, and 3-point play on a one-step move and dunk by Johnson, who was fouled in the act and converted to make it 61-40 with 8:30 left.
 
Next up for the Highlanders is a trip to West Point, NY, where they will take on Army in a 7 pm game on Wednesday.