Box score
GRAND FORKS, ND—NJIT, playing without one of its all-time leading scorers and with several other players operating at less than full capacity, used a balanced offense and gritty defense to win at North Dakota, 59-52, in Great West Conference men's basketball Saturday afternoon.
The Highlanders have been dealing with a wave of conjunctivitis (aka pink eye) that has spread throughout members of the team and coaching staff in recent days. Jheryl Wilson (12.6 points per game this season and ninth on the all-time NJIT list with 1,304 points) was forced to miss his first game of 2010-11 with the annoying ailment after starting his team's first 26 games.
On top of that, Chris Flores, the team's second-leading scorer this season (13 ppg), broke his nose in Thursday's loss at South Dakota and will play the rest of the season with the residual effects from that injury.
Despite all that and being in a place where they lost 90-78 the first time the programs met on February 23, 2010, the Highlanders found a way to prevail on Saturday.
NJIT, which rebounded after seeing its school Division I-record six-game winning streak halted on Thursday at South Dakota, is 14-13 overall and 8-2 in the Great West Conference with two regular season games remaining.
The Highlanders have clinched at least a tie for second place in the conference and are 12-3 in their last 15 games overall, starting on January 8. The Highlanders swept the season series from North Dakota, having beaten the Fighting Sioux, 65-49, on February 10 in Newark. They have won the last four games against UND since that first road loss a little over a year ago.
Five Highlanders scored in double-figures on Saturday, led by freshman Lamar Kearse, who moved into the starting lineup for the sidelined Wilson and stepped up with 13 points in his second college start.
Junior captain Isaiah Wilkerson, who became the 24th and latest member of NJIT's 1,000-point club when he crossed the barrier at South Dakota, added 11 points and a team-leading 7 rebounds for the Highlanders.
Three NJIT players contributed 10 points apiece.
Flores scored 10 points, plus 6 steals in 19 minutes. The six steals for Flores tied his own school Division I record, which he first recorded against Rutgers in December 2009. As a team, the Highlanders had 10 steals, contributing to 19 North Dakota turnovers and a 21-10 advantage for NJIT in points-off-of-turnovers.
Along with Flores, NJIT got 10 points, 3 assists and just one turnover in 31 minutes for sophomore point guard PJ Miller. And junior Arjun Ohri came off the Highlander bench for 10 points, as well. Ohri, who has scored in double-figures twice in the last three games, had scored 9 points against North Dakota in the first game between the teams.
North Dakota (13-14, 5-4 Great West) picked up game-high totals of 19 points and 8 rebounds from freshman Brandon Brekke, while classmate Troy Huff added 12 points for the Fighting Sioux.
NJIT which shot 37 percent from field overall (19-52), was effective at the foul line, connecting on 17-of-23 (74 percent). North Dakota, in addition to its turnover problems, shot 17-for-50 (34 percent) from the field and 14-22 (64 percent at the line). Brekke was 7-for-8, while the rest of his team combined to go 7-for-14.
Neither team went up by more than six points in a first half that NJIT led at the break, 24-23, paced by eight points from Miller. Brekke, whose 19 points at game's end were a new career high, had 11 at halftime.
The Highlanders controlled most of the second half and extended their lead to 48-35 when Flores made the second of two free throws with 8:21 remaining.
The win would not come easily for NJIT, however, as North Dakota used an 11-2 run to pull to within four, 50-46, after Brekke canned two free throws with 4:46 left.
The Highlanders got three points back, but when Jamal Webb made two free throws with 1:15 remaining, North Dakota had whittled the NJIT lead to 53-50.
But first Ohri and then Kearse and Flores all delivered in two-shot free throw opportunities to seal the win for the Highlanders, who outscored North Dakota, 6-2, in the closing 29 seconds.
NJIT, which has played its last four games on the road in the Great West, going 3-1 in the process, will return home for its last two regular season games. The Highlanders finished 4-2 in Great West away games after going 0-6 on the road in the first season of conference play in 2009-10.
The final home weekend begins with what is arguably the most meaningful game since NJIT began Division I competition in 2006-07.
On Thursday, the Highlander men will host Utah Valley in the second game of a women's-men's doubleheader, with the men's game in Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center scheduled to start at 7:30 pm.
Utah Valley, which edged Houston Baptist, 67-62, later on Saturday, is 10-1 in the Great West Conference with only the game at NJIT remaining on its regular season slate.
NJIT is 8-2 in conference play, with one of the losses at Utah Valley (71-58 on January 29). Trailing UVU by one game in the loss column, the Highlanders can earn a share of the Great West Conference regular season crown if they can beat the Wolverines on Thursday and then close out the schedule with a win over Chicago State two days later. One win in the final home weekend would clinch second place outright for the Highlanders.
