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NEWARK, NJ—NJIT and Chicago State close out the regular season Saturday afternoon at 4 pm in the final home game of the season for the Highlanders in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center. The second half of the only home doubleheader of the year, the men's game between NJIT and Chicago State will be preceded by a game between their women's counterparts that tips at 2 pm.
 
Saturday's men's game will also feature recognition of the five NJIT seniors—Arjun Ohri, Ryan Regis, Sammy Schickel, Teddy Schickel, and Isaiah Wilkerson, all of whom will play their final home games.


 
Both teams are returning to Great West Conference action after a two-game bye from league play. The Highlanders split their two most recent non-conference games, falling in overtime against CSU Bakersfield (72-70 on Feb. 22) and then routing Longwood (94-51 on Jan. 25). Chicago State lost a home game to Urbana (59-55 on Feb. 25) and lost Wednesday against SIU Edwardsville (81-70 on Feb. 29).
 
Chicago State has only four wins overall and comes to Newark with a 2-7 GWC mark. However, the won-lost record calls for a closer look.
 
In non-conference games, the Cougars have losses to five teams from power conference--two from the Big Ten (Iowa and Illinois), two from the Big East (DePaul and Cincinnati), one team from Pac-12 (Oregon State), and three of the top four teams in the highly-regarded Missouri Valley Conference (#15/#14 Wichita State, 26-4; #25/#24 Creighton, 25-5; and, Illinois State, 18-12). Chicago State also played at #21/#23 San Diego State (22-6). All of the losses were road games. In other words, just about any team at the Great West level would be expected to lose the nine games in question.


 
In Great West action, Chicago State and Houston Baptist are tied for the bottom spot in the standings with 2-7 records. However, every conference game for the Cougars has been close, including a 73-64 loss to NJIT in Chicago on Feb. 4. Only one CSU conference game has been decided by more than nine points and that was a 71-61 defeat at North Dakota on Jan. 28.
 
Against Utah Valley, which is 9-0 in league play, having already clinched its second consecutive regular season crown, Chicago State lost by nine on the road and by five at home.
 
Under the direction of second-year head coach Tracy Dildy, Chicago State has three men averaging double-figure scoring, led by 6-foot-9 junior Jeremy Robinson (14.1 ppg), Lee Fisher, who 6-foot-5 grad student who played his first three seasons at Northern Illinois, averages 12.6 ppg and junior guard Matt Samuels scores 11.3 ppg. Ardarius Simmons is averaging 9.6 ppg overall, but he is third among scorers in conference games-only, averaging 16 ppg. Fisher and Robinson share the team rebounding lead, each grabbing 7.8 per game.


 
When NJIT and Chicago State played earlier, Highlander senior Isaiah Wilkerson scored his career-best 26 points and grabbed a game-best 9 rebounds to lead a 73-64 win. Ryan Woods added 12 points and Arjun Ohri 11 for the victorious Highlanders. Samuels, who has 24 starts, came off the bench to top the CSU scorers, netting 23 points, while Fisher got 16 points and 8 rebounds and Robinson added 13 points and 7 rebounds.
 
Isaiah Wilkerson is both the leading scorer (16 ppg) and rebounder (6.5 rpg) for the Highlanders. Wilkerson set new personal records for points in a game (26 at Chicago State on Feb. 4) and rebounds (15 at Houston Baptist on Feb. 18) last month and had 1,509 career points, 586 rebounds, 191 assists, and 129 steals in his 109 games at NJIT.
 
Chris Flores is second on the team in both scoring (12.9 ppg) and rebounding (3.6 rpg), while leading in assists (85) and 3-pointers (54).



 
Ryan Woods is averaging 9.2 ppg and Lamar Kearse is at 7.2 ppg. Kearse's string of double-figure scoring games ended at five when he scored three points vs. Longwood, but he set a new NJIT Division I record in that game, handing out nine assists. He has 65 combined points in the last six games (10.8 ppg).
 
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.