Box score

HACKENSACK, NJ—NJIT, which built a 39-25 lead by halftime, fell behind by a point with 6:07 left in the game. But the resilient Highlanders, who began a 6-0 run with 1:07 left, pulled out a 66-63 non-conference road victory at Fairleigh Dickinson Monday night.
 
Monday's win was the third in a row for NJIT, which is 9-8 on the season, while Fairleigh Dickinson falls to 7-10 on the season. NJIT head coach Jim Engles, who is in his fifth year leading the Highlanders, picked up his 50th career win.

Both teams have been in their share of close games (five points, or less, in regulation and/or overtime). NJIT is now 4-4 in such games, while FDU sustained its first tight loss after winning its first four close ones.
 
NJIT's Ryan Woods (20 points) led all scorers, as he had his second straight stellar performance from beyond the arc, connecting on 5-of-7 3-point tries against FDU after a 6-for-12 game from distance two days earlier in a triple overtime win over Chicago State. Woods has made 52 3-pointers this season, already the fifth-highest total in the Division I era with 11 regular season games, plus the Great West Conference Tournament still to be played (the DI record is 62, set by Chris Flores last season). Woods and Flores were also two four NJIT starters (with Daquan Holiday and Sean McCarthy) to grab six rebounds in Monday's win.
 
Flores, like Woods, a senior, added 19 points, plus the six boards, as he scored nine in the first half and 10 in the second half. Flores' jumper with 1:07 left in the game put NJIT on top to stay, 62-60)
 
Freshman Ky Howard added 10 points—seven in the second half—in 25 clutch minutes coming off the bench. The 10 points for Howard matched his career high vs. a Division I opponent, as the poised rookie from Philadelphia also netted 10 vs. South Carolina State in November.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson featured a balanced attack, with four double-figure scorers, topped by 14 from senior pivot Kinu Rochford, who also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Rochford, a burly 6-foot-6 with quick feet, came in averaging a double-double (16.3 ppg, 10.3 rpg).
 
Senior guard Melquan Bolding added 13 points, while senior forward Lonnie Robinson finished with 11 points and the Knights got 10 points in 15 minutes from junior sub Mathias Seilund.
 
Both teams shot exceptionally well on 3-pointers, with NJIT making 10-of-17 from downtown and Fairleigh shooting 9-for-17. In a game ultimately decided by three points, the Highlanders were also a shade better at the foul line, hitting 12 on 15 tries, while the Knights also made 12, but on 16 attempts.
 
Things couldn't have gone much better for NJIT in the opening 20 minutes, as the Highlanders shot 7-for-10 on 3-pointers, topped by Woods' 4-for-5. They also dominated the rebounding, 21-10, including nine offensive rebounds, while FDU was one-and-done on every possession, failing to get an offensive rebound in the half. Not surprisingly, the Highlanders had a 12-0 advantage in second chance points for the half.
 
However, home teams rarely go quietly and the Knights were no exception on Monday, scoring 10 of the first 11 points in the second half and holding NJIT without a field goal until Howard, just into the lineup, drove through traffic for a difficult twisting layup that gave the Highlanders a 42-35 advantage with 13:21 remaining.
 
Even with that bucket from Howard, NJIT had seen its 14-point halftime lead cut in half in less than seven minutes. And Fairleigh Dickinson continued its surge, finally taking what would be its only lead of the night, 52-51, on two Bolding free throws with 6:07 left.
 
The freshman Howard answered on the next possession, however, scoring a wide-open layup off of a feed from NJIT's 6-foot-10 senior big man, Sean McCarthy.
 
With the ball having been knocked loose earlier in the possession, McCarthy hustled to save it near the sideline and about 10 feet from the midcourt stripe. Sensing that McCarthy is not accustomed to handling the ball against pressure, three FDU defenders swarmed him. But McCarthy countered that defensive move that left four Highlanders to be guarded by the remaining two Knights and the senior big man passed to Howard, who didn't have a defender within 10 feet of him on the go-ahead bucket with 5:49 left.
 
After the Howard score, Flores and PJ Miller each hit a pair free throws, stretching the Highlander lead to 57-52 at the 4:13 mark, but FDU came right back with a Rochford layup and then a triple from Seilund that knotted the score at 57 apiece with 3:24 remaining.
 
Howard answered with a 3-pointer of his own—the sixth of his freshman season—20 seconds later to help prevent the Knights from building any decisive momentum.
 
“Ky gets better every game,” said NJIT coach Jim Engles of his young backup point guard. “He has a lot of poise and he played tough with the game on the line and made great decisions with the ball all night.”
 
There would be one more tie, however (60-60), but NJIT used a 6-0 run that included a pull-up jumper by Flores that gave NJIT the lead for good with 1:07 left, followed by two free throws each from Flores and Woods.
 
The Woods free throws came with just 3.7 seconds left, when he pulled down the defensive rebound on a long 3-point try from FDU's Mustafaa Jones, the third straight miss in a Knights flurry that began with 11 seconds left.
 
The foul shots by Woods made the score 66-60 for the Highlanders before Lonnie Robinson of the Knights threw in a 3-pointer from near halfcourt ahead of the final buzzer.
 
“It was a good road win against a good team that really came after us,” Engles said. “We toughed it out in the second half; you know when you're on the road against a good team they're going to make a run and that's exactly what FDU did. Chris (Flores) and Ryan (Woods) made some big shots for us and helped us right the ship.”
 
NJIT will continue its stretch of three non-conference games on Thursday at 7:30, when the Highlanders host the University of Pennsylvania in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center. After that, NJIT will visit first-time opponent New Orleans on Monday night.