Box score

NEWARK, NJ—Four NJIT players scored in double-figures, led by 13 points from senior point guard PJ Miller, as the Highlanders took sole possession of the first place in the Great West Conference men's basketball standings with a convincing 64-51 win over visiting Texas-Pan American Saturday afternoon in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

Miller's 13 points were game-high, followed by 12 for freshman Ky Howard, who came off the bench for his highest total against a Division I opponent. Senior Chris Flores and sophomore Daquan Holiday added 10 points apiece for the Highlanders (10-10 overall), who are the only Great West men's team with an unbeaten conference record (3-0).
 
Texas-Pan American, which had won its previous three games (two in conference) drops to 10-11 overall and 2-1 in Great West play. The Broncs were paced by seniors Jesus Delgado and Brandon Provost, with 12 points apiece.
 
NJIT outrebounded Texas-Pan Am, 38-28, paced by seven boards from the veteran guard Flores, who matched his season high of seven, done earlier in a 69-67 win against Army on December 11. Holiday, Sean McCarthy, and Ryan Woods each contributed six rebounds to the winning effort on the boards, while Justin Leathers, who got five offensive rebounds, topped UTPA with six total rebounds.
 
It was a high turnover game for both sides, as NJIT committed 20 miscues to 19 for Texas-Pan American. But the Highlanders made more of their chances, outscoring the visitors in points off turnovers, 24-15.
 
NJIT, which had dropped its previous two games in excruciating fashion (54-53 at home vs. Penn on January 17 and then a 96-94 triple overtime loss at New Orleans on January 21) nearly went wire-to-wire in Saturday's win. UTPA scored first on a Delgado jumper 41 seconds into the contest, but NJIT answered with a 10-0 burst in a span of 5:20.
 
Provost finally hit a 3-pointer for the visitors at the 12:21, breaking NJIT's run, as well as UTPA's scoring drought of nearly seven minutes, making it 10-5.
 
The Broncs eventually closed to within four points, 16-12, on the strength of a 7-0 run capped by Jerome Dantzler's layup with 9:12 left in the half. But NJIT responded with an 11-0 run of its own, with points coming from four different players, and the Highlanders led 27-12 after a Flores 3-pointer with 7:12 left in the half.
 
Indeed, a traditional 3-point play for Miller on the previous Highlander possession, pushed the NJIT lead back to double-digits, 23-12, with 7:38 left in the half and the home team's lead would not shrink below 10 the rest of the day.
 
The Highlanders pushed their first-half lead to as many as 16 points, 54-38, on a pair of Howard free throws with 5:35 left in the first half and NJIT remained on top at the break, 36-20. The same scoring balance evident in the final box score was also there at halftime, as Miller netted nine points at the break, followed by Woods (8) and Holiday and Howard (6 each). Cabrera and Provost each had five points to lead the Broncs in the first 20 minutes.
 
NJIT's biggest lead of the game, 19 points, came twice in the second half, as Texas native Odera Nweke hit a pair of free throws to make it 50-31 with 8:39 left and Miller drove for a layup and a 52-33 advantage at the 7:29 mark.
 
Texas-Pan American put six points (four on foul shots) on the board in a span of 42 seconds to trim its deficit to 10, 54-44, after an old school 3-point play for Delgado with 4:40 left. But NJIT got a dunk from Nweke and a layup from Flores on the next two possessions to keep the Broncs from getting any closer.
 
The relative ease of Saturday's victory, with the double-figure lead for the last 27:38, was an exception to the rule of NJIT's season to date. The Highlanders have defeated their three non-Division I opponents by wide margins, but they had not previously beaten a Division I opponent by more than nine (72-63 vs. South Carolina State on November 24). On the losing side, only Lafayette (83-66) and Villanova (70-60) have beaten NJIT by more than nine points.  In addition to Villanova, three other Big East teams beat the Highlanders by a combined total of 18 points. There have been two triple-overtime games (one a win and one a loss) this month, plus seven games this season decided in regulation by three points or less (NJIT is 3-4 in those games).
 
Next up for NJIT is its final non-Division I opponent of the season, Fisher College, an NAIA program from Boston. That game is scheduled for a 7:30 pm tip on Wednesday in the Fleisher Athletic Center.