Box Score

CHICAGO—The NJIT Highlanders are headed to the 2012 Great West Conference men's basketball championship game, courtesy of a heart-stopping 88-78 overtime win over two-time regular season champion Utah Valley in Friday afternoon's first semifinal hosted by Chicago State.
 
The Highlanders will take on defending tournament champ and second-seeded North Dakota, which rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to edge #3 Texas-Pan American, 63-59. The 2012 championship game is set for Saturday at 4 pm (CST) in Chicago State's Emil and Patricia A. Jones Convocation Center. 
 
Friday's NJIT foe, Utah Valley, which won a program-best 13 straight games from January 7 to February 25, was the runaway regular season champ, winning its first nine conference games until falling 57-56 on a buzzer beater at North Dakota in the regular season finale.
 
Even with that defeat, the Wolverines, 20-11 overall in the regular season, finished at 9-1 in the Great West, three full games ahead of second-place North Dakota (6-4 in league play).
 
Two of the wins in UVU's 13-game streak came against NJIT—an 81-58 blowout in Utah on January 28 and then a 99-97 double-overtime win in Newark on February 8.
 
The loss to the Wolverines in Newark was one of two home overtime defeats this season for the Highlanders, who were 13-16 overall in the regular season and 5-5 in the conference. NJIT, seeded fourth in the tournament, had advanced to meet Utah Valley behind an airtight 65-64 first-round win over fifth-seeded Houston Baptist on Thursday.
 
NJIT, which has piled the two GWC Tournament wins on top of winning its last two regular season games, will take a season-best four-game winning streak into Saturday's championship.
 
The Highlanders, who had been 1-11 in their all-time series against Utah Valley before Saturday, had four double-figure scorers in the upset, topped by junior Chris Flores, who tallied an NJIT season-best 27 points, shooting 10-for-18 from the field, including 5-for-7 on 3-pointers. He also posted game-high totals for assists (5) and steals (3).
 
Three other NJIT starters scored in double figures, with Ryan Woods netting 16 points on 4-for-6 3-point shooting combined with 4-for-4 at the foul line. Woods also grabbed six rebounds.
 
With Flores going 5-for-7 and Woods 4-for-6, NJIT shot 11-for-21 from distance, including 7-for-11 after halftime.
 
Senior forward Isaiah Wilkerson limited to two first-half points in his second slow start of the tournament, finished the game with 15 points and three assists without a turnover in a career-high 41 minutes of action. The previous day, Wilkerson, the 2011-12 GWC Player of the Year, netted a game-high 20 points in the win over Houston Baptist, but 14 of them came in the second half.
 
PJ Miller (12 points) rounded out NJIT's double-figure scorers, shooting 6-for-8 from the field. The 12 points were one shy of the junior guard's career-best 13, which he has done three times. He had two previous 12-point games this season and one of them was in the double overtime loss at home to UVU.
 
Sophomore center Kherel Silcott, who is playing the best basketball of his career since early February, came off the NJIT bench to match his season highs in both points and rebounds, with eight of each, plus a game-leading two blocks in 19 minutes of play.
 
Utah Valley had four double-figure scorers paced by a combined 46 points from its starting backcourt. However, senior Isiah Williams, the 2010-11 conference Player of the Year, and sophomore point guard Holton Hunsaker needed a high volume of shots to get their points.
 
Williams shot 7-for-26 from the field, including 3-for-14 on threes, to account for 17 of his team-leading 26 points (he was 9-for-10 at the foul line). And Hunsaker shot 6-for-17 from the field (3-for-9 on threes) to go with 5-for-6 foul shooting. Combined the all-conference duo was 13-for-43 from the field, barely over 30 percent.
 
Williams, guarded primarily by Flores in NJIT's man-to-man defense, shot 3-for-12 in the first half and 4-for-14 in the second half. Hunsaker, 4-for-5 in the first half when his team built a 35-28 lead by the intermission, shot 2-for-12 after that, as NJIT outscored the Wolverines by seven in the second half and by 10 in overtime.
 
Senior forward Geddes Robinson, who set a UVU school record with 18 rebounds when his team trounced NJIT in January, ended his career on Saturday against the Highlanders with a game-high 16 rebounds to go with 10 points.
 
Senior forward Keith Thompson (12 points) was the fourth double-figure scorer in the Utah Valley lineup. Sophomore center Ben Aird missed out on a double-double, coming up short in points (8), but he grabbed 10 rebounds.
 
Despite the two double-figure rebounders, Utah Valley held a slim 42-39 team rebounding advantage, contrasted with its 55-27 margin on the boards when it belted the Highlanders in late January in Utah. Even though Saturday's rebounding totals were close, the Wolverines still converted 19 offensive rebounds into a 23-11 advantage over NJIT in second-chance points.
 
NJIT had a big edge in bench scoring, where it enjoyed a 15-2 lead, paced by Silcott's eight points. Alfonzo Hubbard, voted the 2011-12 GWC Sixth-Man of the Year, scored UVU's only two bench points.
 
The Highlanders scored the game's first basket and took a 7-3 lead on Woods' first three 1:45 into the contest, but Utah Valley came back and used an 8-0 run to go on top for the last 17:40 after layup and then three for Isiah Williams made it 8-7 UVU.
 
The Wolverines eventually built a game-high 12-point lead on two occasions in the first half, the first at 10:45 on a triple for Hunsaker that put his team on top, 21-9.
 
The lead was still at 11 when NJIT fought back into contention with an 8-0 run that consisted of two Flores threes sandwiched around a Miller layup, with the second Flores bomb closing the score to 25-22 with 6:36 left in the half.
 
The margin toggled between three and five for the next five minutes when NJIT's Flores argued that he had been tripped when he was called for traveling. Leading by five, UVU scored four points in 10 seconds, as Williams made hit the two technical free throws and then scored off the inbounds play for a 35-26 advantage at the 1:25 mark.
 
NJIT managed a Lamar Kearse layup with 55 seconds left, but that was it for the first half, which ended at 35-28 Utah Valley. Williams (13 points) and Hunsaker (11) paced the Wolverines at the break, while Flores was high for NJIT, with eight points.
 
Down seven at the break, NJIT surged out of the locker room, pouring in 16 points to five for Utah Valley in the opening five minutes of the second half to go up 44-40 after Wilkerson's three at the 15-minute mark.
 
NJIT, which claimed its first lead of the second half on a Flores layup that made it 41-40 with 15:44 remaining, did not fall behind again until the final 38.3 seconds of regulation.
 
In the interim, the Highlanders went ahead by as many as nine points, going on top 55-46 on a Flores drive with 8:47 left in regulation that was part of a 7-0 NJIT run.
 
Utah Valley chipped away and got within four points with 5:12 left, before Flores and Williams traded 3-pointers. Then the two centers, NJIT's Ryan Regis and UVU's Aird, traded two point buckets. Aird's. however, was part of a traditional 3-point play that reduced the NJIT lead to 64-61 at 3:27.
 
After a Flores miss on the next possession, Williams produced the game's first tie, hitting a 3-pointer that made it 64-64, with 2:56 left.
 
Woods then hit a contested three for the Highlanders, but Thompson answered in kind the next time down the floor, bringing the scored to 67-67, where it stayed well into the final minute.
 
Finally, NJIT's Regis, coming out near the 3-point line to hedge on defense against Williams, was whistled on a soft foul, sending the 84 percent foul shooter Williams to the line.  
 
The UVU senior sunk both free throws for a 69-67 lead, but then NJIT's Wilkerson was fouled on the floor as he made a drive down the lane. It was the seventh foul of the half for Utah Valley, meaning Wilkerson had to make the first free throw to get the second. He made both, tying the score at 69 with 24.3 seconds left.
 
NJIT coach Jim Engles then called timeout to set his team's defense and the end of regulation came down to an isolation drive by Williams that began with about five seconds showing on the clock. Williams' floater in the lane fell off the rim at the buzzer.
 
The Highlanders, who shot 63.6 percent (14-22) from the field and 7-for-9 at the foul line in the second half, dominated the overtime, outscoring Utah Valley, 19-9, in the extra five minutes. NJIT made all four of its shots from the field and went 10-12 at the foul line in overtime. Utah Valley, meanwhile, was 3-for-15 from the field, including 0-for-5 on triples.
 
The Staten Island duo of Wilkerson and Woods accounted for 11 of NJIT's overtime points, with Wilkerson sinking six of eight foul shots and Woods hitting a three plus both of his free throws.
 
Utah Valley's Thompson scored the first bucket of overtime, but the Highlanders took command with an 11-1 run capped by another Flores layup that put his team ahead 80-72 with 1:09 to play.
 
A technical foul sparked the winning spurt, as Aird was whistled with 3:29 left for demanding a foul call when Flores stripped him of the ball. Wilkerson hit the two technical foul shots to tie the score again and then Woods drained a three on the ensuing possession to put the Highlanders ahead to stay.
 
Robinson made the second of two free throws for UVU's only point in the decisive NJIT run but Flores drove for a layup 17 seconds later, Silcott hit a pair of free throws and then Flores drove for the eight-point lead heading into the final minute.
 
Utah Valley scored six points in the final 41 seconds, but the Wolverines never got closer than six, as the Highlanders put in eight points of their own in the last 38 ticks.
 
“I was happy with the way we responded (after the first half),” said Engles, NJIT's fourth-year head coach. “We executed on offense and it was the best defense we've played this year.
 
“I have to give my guys a lot of credit. They made some big shots and we made some big stops at the end.”
 
NJIT and its championship game opponent, North Dakota, have played some memorable games since beginning their series near the end of 2009-10. NJIT leads the series, 5-2, with the teams having split their two meetings this season. The Fighting Sioux handed NJIT its first conference loss, 80-63, in Grand Forks, ND, on January 26, but the Highlanders were 72-57 winners when the teams played in Newark on February 11.