Box score
NEWARK, NJ—
Chris Flores scored a career-high 32 points in a perfect shooting night, leading NJIT to a 108-69 men's basketball win over visiting Fisher Wednesday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
Flores, who played 23 minutes and left the game for good with 14 minutes remaining in the second half, made all 11 of his field goal attempts, including 7-for-7 from 3-point distance, as well as 3-for-3 at the foul line in 23 minutes of action, as the Highlanders upped their season record to 11-10. A senior, Flores' previous career high was 28 points, which he has done three times, including twice this season (at Providence in the season opener and home vs. Chicago State on January 12).
According to information provided by ESPN, Flores becomes the first player to score at least 30 points without missing a shot, while making at least seven threes, since Bryce Taylor of Oregon had the same line as Flores on March 10, 2007.
ESPN TOP 10 PLAYS -- NJIT's Chris Flores #3 (January 31, 2013)
The 32 points for Flores raise his career total to 1,604 and move him past former teammate
Isaiah Wilkerson (1,577 points from 2008 to 2012) as the top scorer in NJIT's Division I era, which began in 2006-07.
NJIT, which had all 10 players in uniform play at least 14 minutes and none more than 29 minutes (backup guard
Ky Howard), had three double-figure scorers aside from Flores. Senior
Ryan Woods finished with 16 points in 22 minutes, freshman
Nigel Sydnor came off the bench for 14 points and sophomore
Daquan Holiday and senior
Sean McCarthy each chipped in 10 points for the Highlanders, who topped 100 points for the first time this season.
The 10 points for McCarthy were his season high and his 12 rebounds were a career high. It was the second career double-double for the big man, who had 10 points and 10 rebounds vs. Lafayette in his second career game on November 21, 2009.
Holiday just missed out on a double-double, grabbing nine rebounds to go with his 10 points. The game assists leaders were the two freshman backup guards for the Highlanders, Howard and Sydnor, who each established new career-highs, with six apiece.
Junior
Quentin Bastian returned to action for the first time since December 22 (missed nine games with a leg injury). Scoreless on the offensive end, Bastian finished with a team-best three blocked shots on the defensive end in 15 minutes played.
First-time opponent Fisher, located in Boston and a member of Division II of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), drops to 7-17 with the loss in Newark. NJIT was the third NCAA Division I opponent this season for the Falcons, who lost at Maine (97-42 on December 6) and at Texas-Pan American (95-49 on January 12),
Although the Falcons lost by a wide margin, they connected on 12-of-26 3-point tries as a team, led by 5-for-6 from downtown from freshman swingman Tyler Shular, who scored a team-leading 22 points. Shular was 6-for-8 on all field goal attempts and made five of his six free throws. He also had a team-leading four assists and just one turnover in 30 minutes for Fisher.
Sophomore Chris Green, who hails from Long Island and spent a prep year at NIA School in downtown Newark, added 14 points, connecting on four of his six tries from behind the 3-point arc, while freshman center Dana Hines had 10 points and three blocked shots.
Senior Ryan McCorkle, who came in leading Fisher in scoring (12.5 ppg) and rebounding (7 rpg), struggled in the scoring department (4 points on 2-11 shooting), but grabbed a team-best six rebounds, all on the offensive boards.
The Highlanders, who finish the 2012-13 season with a 4-0 record against their non-Division I foes, set the tone early, taking an 11-3 lead in the first 2:02. Indeed, Flores made two of his 3-pointers in the opening minute and he netted four triples in the opening 3:25 and five in the first eight minutes.
Flores opened the scoring with a 3-pointer at 19:44 and Shular answered with a three on the other end for the only tie of the game at the 19:21 mark. But Flores struck again from downtown at 19:07 and NJIT led the rest of the game, claiming its biggest lead of the half—40 points—at 62-22 on a Flores fast-break layup with 1:59 remaining in the half after a steal by Howard and an assist by Woods.
Fisher scored nine points—six by Shular—in the final 1:05 of the first half, but the Falcons still trailed at the break, 65-34. NJIT's blistering shooting totals for the first half showed 71.4 percent (20-28) on all field goals, 11-for-14 (78.6 percent) on threes, and 14-for-16 (87.5 percent) at the foul line.
Flores had 29 points in 17 first-half minutes on 10-10 shooting (6-6 on 3s) and 3-3 at the foul line to lead everyone in the opening half. Woods added 14 points for the Highlanders in the opening half.
Shular (14 points) was the only Falcon with more than six points in the first 20 minutes of action.
NJIT's shooting cooled to just under 50 percent from the field in the second half, but the Highlanders nonetheless reached 90 points with over seven minutes remaining and the hit the century mark on a Howard jump shot in the lane with 3:54 left.
NJIT took a 41-point lead, its biggest of the night, at 102-61 on a fast-break layup by
Mitch Farrell with 3:37 left , but Shular and Green hit back-to-back threes on the next two Fisher possessions.
The Highlanders, 9-3 at home this season, will play their next three games away from home, beginning with a 2:05 pm (CST) Great West Conference game in Texas at Houston Baptist on Saturday afternoon. NJIT is 3-0 in conference play this season, but 1-3 all-time against the HBU Huskies in Houston.