Box score

BROOKLYN, NY—Visiting NJIT scored 51 second-half points and got to within three points of the lead with 9:12 left, but a 17-point halftime deficit and near-flawless second-half foul shooting by Long Island University proved too much for the Highlanders, who fell short , 84-74, in non-conference men's basketball Friday night.
 
LIU, the defending Northeast Conference champion and a participant in the 2011 NCAA Tournament, won its third straight, bringing its season record to 8-6. The Blackbirds extended their home winning streak in the Wellness Center to 16 straight games dating back to December 8, 2010, when they lost to Iona. They won their next 12 home games in 2010-11 and are 4-0 at home this season.
 
Four Blackbird starters, all of whom were regulars and two of whom started for last year's 27-win NCAA team, reached double-figure scoring against NJIT, paced by junior forward Julian Boyd, who finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
 
A first-team all-conference, first-team NABC all-region and first team all-Met (NY) pick a season ago, Boyd scored 18 of his game-high point total in the second half, which was crucial in withstanding NJIT's comeback bid.
 
In particular, Boyd shot 8-for-8 at the foul line in the second half, leading LIU to 23-for-26 (88.5 percent) in the half and 27-for-33 (81.8 percent) in the game. The Blackbirds outscored NJIT at the line by 21 points in the second half and by 23 points from the stripe for the game, as the Highlanders attempted five free throws in the game and made four.
 
In addition to Boyd, Long Island got 18 points and six assists from sophomore point guard Jason Brickman, who was 6-for-6 at the line and 4-for-6 from the field, all 3-point attempts.
 
Junior forward Jamal Olasewere added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Blackbirds, who also got 11 points from senior guard Michael Culpo. The only starter who failed to reach double-figure scoring, junior CJ Garner, got eight points and collected five assists without a turnover.
 
NJIT (5-7) got 16 points from senior Arjun Ohri, who played a scoreless three minutes in the first half, but exploded in 16 second-half minutes, nailing 6-of-9 shots, including 4-for-6 on 3-pointers. He also had three assists without a turnover, as the Highlanders tied their team season-low for turnovers, with just eight, including just two in the 51-point second half, where 49 of the points came from the field.
 
Starters Chris Flores and Isaiah Wilkerson added 14 points and 13 points, respectively, while Sammy Schickel, who played less than a minute in the first half, heated up for eight second-half points. Marques Jones, who did not play in the first half, also provided a huge lift in the second half, scoring five points and contributing to a discernible rise in the level of defensive intensity for the Highlanders.
 
Wilkerson, the senior, was the top rebounder for NJIT, gathering in seven boards, followed by Flores and Ryan Regis, with five rebounds apiece.
 
In the final analysis, however, a lopsided first half doomed the Highlanders, who trailed after 20 minutes, 40-23.
 
Entering the game in the national top 20 in team 3-point field goal percentage defense (.260), NJIT was lit up early and often from long range by LIU over the first 20 minutes, when the Blackbirds shot 8-for-15 (53.3 percent) on first-half threes. The Blackbirds actually made and attempted more 3-pointers than 2-pointers in the first half, as they were 6-for-14 from inside the arc.
 
Eight of the nine men who appeared for LIU in the opening half scored at lead two points and three of them—Olasewere, Brickman, and Culpo—had nine points apiece. Brickman and Culpo had all of their points on treys.
 
NJIT, meanwhile, was 9-for-32 (28.1 percent) overall from the field, including 3-for-11 on threes, with the only saving grace being Wilkerson, who had a game-high 11 points at the break on 5-for-7 shooting, meaning the rest of the Highlanders were 4-for-25. Too many of the misses came on layups and open short jump shot tries.
 
LIU, which never trailed and fired in 18 points in the first five minutes of the game, appeared to be in total control early in the second half, stretching its 17-point halftime lead to 21 on a dunk by Boyd that made it 46-25 for the Blackbirds with 18:12 left.
 
Moments before the Boyd dunk, NJIT coach Jim Engles inserted Ohri and Sean McCarthy and he put in Kherel Silcott and Jones at the 17:37 mark. Wilkerson, who had provided nearly all the highlights for the Highlanders to that point, picked up his third foul with 16:50 left and he gave way to Schickel.
 
LIU's Kenny Onyechi, who had been fouled by Wilkerson, made the first of two free throws to give the Blackbirds a 49-30 lead with just under 17 minutes remaining.
 
With the backups Ohri, Jones, Silcott, and Schickel on the floor along with one starter, Flores, the Highlanders completely turned the game around with a 15-0 outburst in a span of just 3:36. It began with a jump shot from Ohri, assisted by Flores, and was capped by Schickel's second three in the run, trimming the deficit to 49-45 with 12:50 left. All four of the subs scored in the spurt, with Schickel scoring six and Ohri five.
 
Coupled with the offensive flurry, NJIT tightened up on defense, getting five turnovers out of LIU, which managed just two shots--both missed threes--during the 15-0 Highlander outburst.
 
Getting back into contention, the Highlanders did well avoiding fouls, as they had only three as a team by the time Flores drove for a layup that reduced the lead, which had been at 21 with 18:12 left, to three, 53-50, exactly nine minutes later at 9:12.
 
That's when Boyd took over for LIU.
 
A chiseled 6-foot-7, 240-pounder, he has the strength to overpower his opponents near the rim. But Boyd also has a feathery mid-range jump shot from 12 to 15 feet, making him nearly impossible to keep off the score sheet. On top of that, he entered the game as a 74 percent foul shooter.
 
After NJIT got within three, the Blackbirds turned to their star, who delivered his team's next 12 points, making both jump shots he tried and all eight free throws in a span of 3:05, from 9:05 to the six-minute mark.
 
Even with that, Jones hit a 3-pointer and Wilkerson and Ohri each drove layups on the other end, but Boyd's dominant outburst pushed his team's advantage back to a more comfortable 65-57 before Olasewere hit a pair of free throws for a 10-point LIU lead with 5:27 left.
 
Also, by the time Boyd's outburst was over, the Highlanders had accumulated eight team fouls and LIU was in the double-bonus for the last 4:17, making the improbable now impossible, considering how well the Blackbirds converted their chances at the line.
 
NJIT did manage to get back to within seven, 69-62, on an old-school 3-point play by Regis with 4:05 left, but LIU, which shot 8-for-10 at the foul line in the final 1:08 did not let the Highlanders get any closer.
 
With the 2011 portion of the schedule complete, NJIT is back in action quickly in 2012, hosting Lafayette on Monday, January 2, at 7 pm in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Lafayette, with a 4-0 lead in its all-time series against the Highlanders, will come to Newark with a 5-8 record this season. While NJIT was taking on LIU in Brooklyn Friday night, the Leopards were in Manhattan, where they lost at Columbia, 77-67.