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DURHAM, NH—The NJIT men's basketball team passed its second test of the weekend, scoring a 71-63 win at the University of New Hampshire nearly 300 miles from home Sunday afternoon.

NJIT, which is nearing the end of a season-opening stretch that will see it play its first five contests of the season away from home, evened its record at 2-2 with its second win in a span of less than 48 hours. New Hampshire, meanwhile, fell to 2-1 after opening its season with wins at home against Division III Suffolk in the opener and then an impressive victory in Pittsburgh at Duquesne of the highly-regarded Atlantic 10 Conference.

Any coach would have some concern taking his team on the road for the first five games, but NJIT's Jim Engles had to be even more concerned, given the fact that his Highlanders are so inexperienced in the college game (of the nine who played in Sunday's win at UNH, five are in their first years wearing an NJIT uniform and three more are early in their second seasons).

So far, any inexperience issues have largely been offset by a competitive edge when playing on hostile unfamiliar courts that belies the inexperience. That edge meets a remarkable team chemistry for a team with so little shared competition mixed with a team-wide selfless attitude.

NJIT took control Sunday by outscoring the home team 13-0 over the last 4:33 of the opening half, as five different players scored in the rally and four of the five baskets in the run were assisted.

Sunday's win made it back-to-back Ws on the second leg of NJIT's three-game bus trip, which continues on Tuesday night in Maine. NJIT broke into the win column with an 89-85 victory at Army in West Point on Friday night.

Sophomore Terrence Smith, a 6-foot-6 inside man, was the top scorer for NJIT vs. UNH, matching his career high with 19 points against the Wildcats and their burly 6-foot-10 senior center Chris Pelcher.

Smith first scored 19 less than a week ago in a 71-65 loss at UAlbany, the defending champion of New Hampshire's conference, the America East, on November 12. On Sunday, Smith got 15 first-half points, making 7 of his 9 shots from the field in the opening 20 minutes.

Freshman Tim Coleman, making his second college start, added 15 points, a new career-best for the rookie. Indeed, Coleman, whose previous scoring high was 8 points in the win at Army, surpassed that total in the first half at UNH, when he scored 12 after connecting on 5-of-7 from the floor.

Damon Lynn, who came in averaging 20.7 points per game and set a new NJIT scoring record for a freshman vs. a Division I team with 27 at Army, had a quiet first half, limited just a 3-point basket. However, he broke out for 10 second-half points, a contribution that was vital with the team managing only 25 points in the second half after pouring in 46 in the opening 20 minutes.

New Hampshire got a game-high 20 points and 15 rebounds from Pelcher, who came in sporting averages of 19.5 points and 16.5 rebounds in the Wildcats' two season-opening wins. Senior forward Patrick Konan added 16 points—14 in the second half—and a third senior, Jordon Bronner, chipped in 14 points.

Not surprising, given Pelcher's 15 boards, New Hampshire led in that department, 37-32, with Konan grabbing 7 rebounds. The NJIT leaders were Smith and Ky Howard, with 5 apiece. Coleman and Winfield Willis each had 4 rebounds for the Highlanders and Willis added a game-high 7 assists in 27 minutes..

NJIT opened with a bucket by Smith and a triple by Lynn before New Hampshire got its first score on a jump shot for John Edwards at 17:33. The Wildcats eventually took what would be their biggest lead of the day, 18-13, after a 3-pointer by freshman Daniel Dion with 11:47 left in the first half.

Coleman and Smith, who were simply too quick for UNH's bigs to defend in the first half, then sparked a 7-0 NJIT rally in a span of 99 seconds, with Coleman getting five in the spurt and Smith the other two. Tellingly, all three baskets in the spurt resulted from assists.

Later, NJIT broke what would be the final tie of the day, 28-28, when Highlander freshman Jake Duncan connected from distance for a 31-28 lead with 5:15 left in the half.

Pelcher and NJIT's Smith traded layups and then Pelcher scored again, trimming the Highlanders' lead to 32-33 with 4:33 to play in the opening half.

But the game took a dramatic turn from there, as New Hampshire was scoreless for the rest of the half and NJIT pumped in 13 unanswered points in a display of balance, skill, and selfless play.

It's not uncommon for a home team, having seen the visitor go into the locker room with momentum, come out and make a stand to begin the second half.

New Hampshire certainly had that idea in mind, but it didn't play out that way. Instead, visiting NJIT opened the half with an 8-1 burst, capped by Sydnor's layup that gave the Highlanders their biggest lead, 54-33, just 3:43 into the second half.

The Wildcats chipped away, cutting their deficit to 10 when Dion's jumper at 10:17 made the score 58-48. But NJIT had an answer and pushed its advantage back to 17 points and still led 71-55 when Lynn hit a jump shot with 5:36 on the clock.

Not unlike the extended drought at the end of the opening half that doomed New Hampshire and helped the Highlanders build a 14-point lead at the break, the second half ended with a scoring blackout by NJIT that covered the entire remainer after Lynn's bucket at the 5:36 mark.

Unlike the Highlanders in the first half, New Hampshire was unable to fully exploit the opening it was offered.

With NJIT stuck on 71, UNH put eight more points on the board, but fell short by that same number, as the Highlanders held the Wildcats without a field goal after the 3:45 mark (0-for-5 from the field) and UNH shot 3-for-6 at the foul line in the same span.

The Highlanders will wrap up their long trip with their third game in five days against Maine, which will play its first game in the newly-opened Cross Insurance Center, a municipal arena in Bangor off the Maine campus, which is in Orono.