Box score

HOUSTON, TX—Houston Baptist, which made nearly 70 percent of its second-half shots from the floor, finished off a 75-68 Great West Conference men's basketball win over visiting NJIT by making 10 of 12 free throws in the last 1:26 Saturday night in HBU's Sharp Gymnasium.
 
The Huskies (9-17, 2-5 Great West) took the lead for good when the only basket of the game by freshman guard Marcel Smith gave them a 58-56 lead with 7:28 left. A 3-pointer by junior Anthony Hill--his and the team's third triple of the game--put HBU in the driver's seat with a five-point lead, 61-56, at the 6:07 mark.
 
But it was still a two-point game, 65-63, after the teams traded scores on the five possessions that followed Hill's third three of the night.
 
Highlander Lamar Kearse made the bucket that pulled his team to within two with 3:57 remaining, but neither team scored until Terry Bembry of HBU was fouled with 1:26 left and made a pair of free throws, triggering his team's 10-for-12 finish at the foul line.
 
Art Bernardi extended the Houston Baptist lead to seven by making two free throws with 57 seconds to play and then the first of two foul shots with 39 seconds left. Ryan Woods then hit a 25-foot 3-pointer from straight on to pull NJIT (11-15, 4-5 Great West) within four, 70-66, with 32 ticks left, but the Highlanders would get no closer.
 
Freshman Tyler Russell of HBU led all scorers with 21 points, making 10 of 14 shots from the field and one of two foul shots. Russell, who scored 14 in the first half, helping his team to a 30-28 lead at the break, did most of his damage on 10 to 12-foot jumpers in the lane off the dribble.
 
Hill, who was 3-for-3 from distance while the rest of the Huskies were a combined 0-for-4, finished with 11 points.
 
Juniors Art Bernardi and Marcus Davis each added 10 points for Houston Baptist, with 14 of their combined 20 points coming on foul shots. Bernardi, who scored all 10 of his points in the second half, was 8-for-10 at the line, while Davis was 6-for-7.
 
Davis, who was fouled on a 3-point try in the first half, made all three of the resultant foul shots, which were the only Houston Baptist free throws of the first half.
 
The Huskies were 21-for-27 at the stripe in the second half, outscoring NJIT from the line 21-1 in the half. NJIT took and made just one foul shot in the second half and it came on a traditional 3-point play by Kearse with 19:27 left.
 
NJIT had four double-figure scorers, led by senior Isaiah Wilkerson, who had his second double-double of the season, with 15 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, topping his previous high of 13, which he had reached twice. Wilkerson finished one short of the NJIT Division I single-game record 16 rebounds by Nesho Milosevic on December 1, 2007 at Maine.
 
The relentless Wilkerson collected nine of his rebounds Saturday on the offensive boards and he also tied teammate PJ Miller for game honors with four assists, while also making a game-best two steals. Wilkerson's 15 rebounds led NJIT to a 33-26 team advantage on the boards.
 
 
Kearse, the sophomore making his fifth start of the season and seventh of his career, added 14 points for his fourth-straight double-figure scoring game. Ryan Woods and Chris Flores, who gave way to Kearse in the starting lineup, each finished with 11 points. They did nearly all of their scoring damage in the second half, as Woods scored all 11 and Flores scored 10 after the break.
 
 
NJIT began well. After conceding the first basket of game, a Joe Latas layup, the Highlanders answered with a 3-pointer for Kearse and then a layup for Miller, the junior guard, who would finish with eight points, five rebounds, and four assists without a turnover in 33 minutes.
 
The Highlanders soon took the first of what would be four five-point first-half leads on a Miller jump shot that made it 11-6 with 15:49 left in the half. The fourth such lead was 19-14 on Arjun Ohri's 3-pointer with 11:53 remaining.
 
The succession of five-point leads pointed up NJIT's inability to get stops, which would have helped them stretch their advantage. On the offensive end, they had 19 points in the first 8:07, including eight on 3-for-4 shooting in the last 3:56 of that stretch. But every time they went up five, HBU answered with a score of its own.
 
After Ohri's three made it 19-14, Houston Baptist went on a 10-0 run that eventually became 16-3, with the Huskies going up 30-22 on Russell's jumper with 1:54 left in the half. Russell, who shot 7-for-9 from the field in the half, scored 10 in the 16-3 run.
 
Down eight, NJIT scored the last six points of the half, as Miller and Ryan Regis each hit two free throws and Kearse scored a layup with 22 seconds remaining to trail at the half, 30-22. In addition to Russell's 14 points, the Huskies got eight points from Latas, while Wilkerson's nine and Kearse's seven paced the Highlanders.
 
A big factor in the Huskies lead was points off turnovers, as they enjoyed a 10-0 margin in that category, cashing their points on 11 NJIT turnovers, while the Highlanders could not score off of any of HBU's five turnovers.
 
NJIT nearly reversed the points off turnovers in the second half, outscoring the home team 8-2 in that category. After the 11 first-half turnovers, the Highlanders had just two after the break. Houston Baptist had just four second-half turnovers, but they were good for eight NJIT points.
 
The Highlanders also outscored HBU in the paint, 18-12, in the second half, plus an 11-5 advantage in second-half points of a period that had six ties and eight lead changes.
 
But NJIT was done in on defense, as HBU put up 45 second-half points, making 68.8 percent (11-16) of its shots from the field, coupled with the overwhelming 21-1 advantage on the foul line and only four turnovers.
 
Indeed, Houston Baptist scored at least one point on all but three offensive possessions through the first 16 minutes of the second half. Remarkably, NJIT trailed by just two, same as at halftime, through that time frame.
 
After imposing just three empty trips for HBU in 16-plus minutes and behind just 65-63 after Kearse's jumper with 3:57 left, the Highlanders got back-to-back stops, but couldn't cash in when their defense finally offered a chance to regain control.
 
Making a steal after the Kearse bucket, the Highlanders missed the shot, but then got an HBU miss and a defensive rebound by Wilkerson. But the Highlanders, with just two second-half turnovers, committed their second, and last, miscue of the half and then fouled at the 1:26 mark, beginning the closing parade of 12 foul shots that would clinch the win for the Huskies.
 
NJIT completes its road schedule 2-12 away from home, including 1-4 in conference play. Last year, when they were 9-3 in the Great West, the Highlanders were 4-2 in conference road games.
 
Before playing in the Great West postseason tournament in March, NJIT will finish the regular season with three home games. Next up is a non-conference game vs. CSU Bakersfield on Wednesday at 7 pm in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center. When the teams played on January 10 in California, CSU Bakersfield was a 71-70 winner.