Box Score

NEWARK, NJ—Damon Lynn's 3-point basket with 1:05 remaining in the first overtime period put NJIT ahead to stay and the Highlanders notched their fourth consecutive win, topping visiting Lafayette, 91-88, Saturday afternoon in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
NJIT, which played its first five 2013-14 games on the road, including a sweep of a 3 games-in-5 days road trip to Army, New Hampshire, and Maine, November 15 to 19, raised its season record to 4-2 by defeating hard-luck Lafayette (0-4), which lost its second overtime game in New Jersey this week (fell 81-80 in overtime at Princeton on Wednesday).
 
NJIT had four double-figure scorers, paced by sophomore Terrence Smith's career-high 24 points (previous high was 19, done twice earlier this season).  Smith, who missed 18 of the final 19 games last season due to a stress fracture, has returned this year in a big, reaching double-figure scoring in all six games
 
Lynn, whose fifth 3-pointer of the day put the Highlanders up, 86-83, finished with 21 points, his fourth game with 20 or more in his first six college contests. In addition to the triple that put NJIT ahead for good, the freshman helped keep the lead beyond Lafayette's reach, as he made all four of his free throws in the final 17 seconds of overtime.
 
Coming off the bench for the Highlanders, Winfield Willis scored 15 points, a new high for the sophomore transfer, who is in his first year in an NJIT uniform. Freshman Tim Coleman, another sub, chipped in 11 points.
 
At the same time, junior post man Daquan Holiday, who had been in a mini-slump, going scoreless and pulling down 7 total rebounds in the preceding three games combined, broke out with a game-best 11 rebounds, plus 6 points and 2 blocks.
 
Not surprising with so much production from players who did not start, the NJIT reserves outscored their  Lafayette counterparts, 34-9, and won the bench rebounding, as well, 17-6.
 
Supporting Holiday on the boards, Smith, Coleman, and Willis all finished with 6 rebounds apiece for the Highlanders, who had a 38-33 edge as a team.
 
The Highlanders committed a relatively low 11 turnovers, despite the five added overtime minutes and a quick pace that saw the teams combine for 179 points and 132 shots from the field. On the other end, Lafayette, which historically plays a strong floor game, committed 16 miscues against NJIT, the most this season for a Highlander opponent and matching the most in a game by the Leopards this year (also 16 at Villanova on November 8). NJIT's lead in points-off-turnovers was 15-9.
 
Lafayette, too, had four double-figure scorers, all starters. Indeed, three Leopards scored at least 20, led by sophomore Bryce Scott, who netted a game-high 25 points, including a deep 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds left in the second half to tie the game and force overtime. The guard's 25 points vs. NJIT matched his career high, which he reached against Robert Morris on November 12.
 
Junior big man Dan Trist added 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists for Lafayette, while junior Seth Hinrichs, who is listed as a guard at 6-foot-7, scored 20 points. The 21 points for Trist, a youth international player for his native Australia, were his season high, although he scored 30 last November against LIU Brooklyn. Hinrichs, the top season scorer for the Leopards (19.3 ppg), came in having matched his career-best 27 points in the midweek overtime loss at Princeton. Junior Alan Flannigan rounded out the double-figure scorers (10 points) and also pulled down a team-leading 9 rebounds.
 
The game was filled with scoring swings, beginning with Lafayette's 10-0 start in the opening 2:19, as four different visiting players got in the scoring column in building the quick lead.
 
However, NJIT answered with a 10-2 burst of its own, capped by Ky Howard's jumper that put the Highlanders into a 14-12 lead at 10:28, 7:13 after they fell into the opening 10-0 hole.
 
There would be five ties in the opening half, the last of which was broken by Lynn's 3-point bucket that put the Highlanders ahead 29-26 at 4:12. With Lynn adding another three and Smith collecting five of his points, NJIT outscored the visitors, 15-5, from the 4:12 mark on, good for a 41-31 lead going into the halftime break.
 
The Highlanders had used similar late first-half bursts to take control of their previous two wins, at New Hampshire and at Maine. But Lafayette had other ideas, opening the second half much the way it did the first, outscoring NJIT, 10-4, and closing the 10-point halftime deficit down to 4 points, 45-41, when Joey Ptatinski nailed a 3-pointer 2:11 into the second half.
 
NJIT recovered from the initial second-half assault, however, pushing its lead back to double-digits on Tim Coleman's 3-point basket with 15:46 left in the half and later going up by a game-high 12 points, 55-43, when Holiday corralled an offensive rebound and put the ball through the net at 12:51.
 
Lafayette surged again, producing the first tie of the second half, 60-60, on another Ptatinski shot from downtown at 8:49 to cap a 17-5 Leopard rally in a span of just under seven minutes.
 
Despite the challenge, NJIT remained either in the lead or tied the rest of the second half, but the Highlanders couldn't extend their edge by more than 3 points, the last time on a pair of free throws for Willis with 13 seconds left, giving NJIT an 75-72 lead that was erased on Scott's long-distance goal that forced overtime.
 
The Leopards, who dominated the opening minutes of both halves in regulation, went up 77-75 on a pair of Trist foul shots 15 seconds into the overtime, but NJIT's Willis connected on a 3-pointer to put the Highlanders on top, 78-77.
 
Scott, the second-half Lafayette hero, scored on the next possession to push the visitors back ahead by a point, but a Smith layup and later two Smith free throws put the NJIT advantage at 82-79 with 2:17 left in the period.
 
Trist made a layup and Lynn, who came in shooting 17-of-19 on free throws and later would seal the NJIT victory, missed a foul shot and then made one for a 2-point Highlander lead with 1:42 still to play. Hinrichs then sunk his only two foul shots of the day, producing the 11th, and last, tie of the day, 83-83 with 77 seconds remaining.
 
Lynn drilled his tie-breaking 3-point 12 seconds later.
 
Hinrichs missed a jump shot on Lafayette's ensuing possession and Holiday went up high to secure the miss for his 11th rebound, forcing the visitors to foul in an attempt to trade foul shots with the clock stopped for possession and, hopefully, baskets on the other end.
 
Howard, who was forced off the floor at times in the second half and overtime to deal with muscle cramping, made it a two-possession game by swishing the second of two foul shots with 23 seconds left. But Scott kept the Lafayette hopes alive with two made free throws five seconds later.
 
Lynn then made a pair of foul shots with 17 seconds left and, after Scott and Hinrichs each misfired from downtown, the NJIT freshman made two more free throws with five seconds left and a 91-85 lead.
 
Nick Lindner, the only Lafayette starter to fall short of double-figure points, swished a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but the NJIT cushion was too big for the shot to matter.
 
NJIT held a pregame ceremony Saturday, unveiling the 2012-13 Great West Conference regular season championship banner. The banner hangs on the wall in the Fleisher Athletic Center behind the home team bench.
 
Taking part in the recognition ceremony were: NJIT President Dr. Joel S. Bloom; Dr. Charles J. Fey, who directly oversees athletics in his role as Vice President for Academic Support and Student Affairs; and Director of Athletics Lenny Kaplan. In addition, 2013 graduates Ryan Woods, PJ Miller, and Sean McCarthy, plus Mike Spisto, who has moved into administration after five years as the top assistant coach, took part. The only member of the 2012-13 champions unable to attend was 2013 graduate Chris Flores, who is playing professionally in Germany.
 
NJIT, which will not leave Newark again for a game until December 23, continues its first home stand of the season on Tuesday at 7 pm, when the Highlanders entertain first-time foe Central Connecticut State in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
The Blue Devils are 0-4 early in the season, most recently having lost their home opener on Saturday evening against Rider, 89-73. CCSU earlier lost to Yale, Purdue, and Northeastern.