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NEWARK, NJ—Down 12 points with 1:49 left, NJIT rallied and had a chance to tie on a 3-point attempt at the buzzer, but the shot, which would have counted, came off the back rim, enabling Central Connecticut State University to escape the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center with a 74-71 win Tuesday night.
 
The result snapped a 4-game winning streak for NJIT (4-3), while Central Connecticut is 1-4 after its first win
 
Kyle Vinales, an explosive junior guard who came in averaging 22.7 points per game, led all scorers Tuesday with 29 points  for Central. The guard did most of his damage early--when he scored 14 of his team's first 16 points--and late, when he scored 13 of his 15 second-half points at the foul line over the last 5:01, helping the Blue Devils survive NJIT's furious comeback bid.
 
Fellow guards Malcolm McMillan, a junior, and senior Matt Hunter added 16 points and 13 points, respectively, for Central in its first-ever men's basketball game vs. NJIT. McMillan also made 7-of-9 free throws, joining Vinales (14-of-16) in grabbing the lion's share of CCSU's 24-for-31 (77.4 percent).
 
NJIT had four double-figure scorers, topped by freshman Damon Lynn's 18 points, 16 of which came in the second half, including 12 on four 3-pointers in the final 74 seconds of the game.
 
Sophomore Ky Howard scored all 17 of his points for the Highlanders in the second half and  classmate Winfield Willis again gave NJIT points off the bench, netting 13 points overall and 9 in the second half. Freshman forward Tim Coleman, starting for the fourth time, added 12 points, including 10 in the opening half when most of the other Highlanders struggled.
 
The team rebound totals were close, with the Blue Devils holding a slim 33-32 edge. Points-in-the paint were even at 24-24 and Central had a 15-14 edge in points-off-turnovers.
 
Central had three players--McMillan, Faronte Drakeford, and Hunter—with 7 rebounds each. Howard, NJIT's versatile guard, led his team, also with 7 boards. Coleman, Lynn (career-high), and Terrence Smith followed with 6 rebounds apiece.
 
The visitors got more scoring from their bench players, holding a 21-14 margin. Willis, who played 35 minutes coming off the bench, accounted for all but one of NJIT's bench points. It was a major departure from the three preceding Highlander games, all wins, when the NJIT reserves outscored their counterparts by a combined 73-29.
 
There's a tendency to focus on the closing minutes as being decisive in a game decided by 3 points. In fact, the early minutes can be just as important, if not more so. Such was likely the case on Tuesday night.
 
The start, scheduled for 7 pm, was delayed until 8:50 pm due to travel problems that delayed Central Connecticut's arrival.
 
While the Blue Devils spent a couple of hours more than planned on their bus, it was the Highlanders, who spent the same time waiting through the delay and they came out as the more sluggish team, trailing at the half, 35-23.
 
It was NJIT's lowest scoring first half of the season, coming in far below the previous bottom of 31, when the Highlanders trailed their season opener at Tulane, 35-31. Indeed, NJIT had scored at least 41 points in the opening half of every contest in its 4-game winning streak and had led at the break by at least 10 in each of the previous three contests.
 
Central Connecticut's lead was paced by Vinales, who notched all 14 points of his halftime-leading points in the opening 8:20. McMillan added 7 points and Hunter, the 6-foot-5 guard,  contributed 6 points, hitting all three of his shots.
 
NJIT's leader at the half was Coleman, who provided 10 of the team's 23 points. Smith, who would be held under 10 points for the first time this season, scored 6 of his 8 total points in the first half.
 
However, the other Highlanders added only seven first-half points to Coleman and Smith, with the three other Highlanders starters combining for two points and the reserves adding 5 points in the opening half against Central Connecticut, which got 10 from its bench.
 
NJIT "won" the second half, 48-39, holding the visitors, who made 15-of-30 first-half shots, to 8-for-24 in the closing 20 minutes.
 
Even with those final numbers, the Highlanders spent a good part of the second half trying, without much success, to get closer than arm's length to the Blue Devils.
 
After trailing by 12 points at the half, NJIT began the second on a 7-2 run that closed the gap to 37-30 after Howard sank a pair of foul shots with 15:24 remaining. More quickly, ran off 5 straight points, going back ahead by 12, 42-30, on Khalen Cumberlander's layup just 2:12 after the Highlanders had trimmed the lead down to 7.
 
One sequence near the middle of the second half typified the slog NJIT faced attempting to make a serious dent. Howard made a traditional 3-point play on a driving layup and foul shot, cutting the score to 45-37 with 10:42 left.
 
On the other end, NJIT played strong half-court defense, forcing the shot clock under 3 seconds before Central's McMillan took an off-balance 3-point try, just beating the buzzer with his errant shot. However, the Blue Devils' Drakeford outquicked the Highlanders for the offensive rebound and was fouled to earn two free throws, which he made with 10:04 left, pushing the visitors' advantage back to 47-37.
 
Central stayed ahead by at lead seven from then until a brief moment when NJIT's Howard drove for a layup at 6:07, pulling the Highlanders to within five, 53-48. But Vinales answered on the next possession and the Blue Devils went back up by 12, 65-53, on a pair of McMillan free throws with just 1:49 left.
 
A bit earlier, with Central up by 10, Hunter was fouled with 2:10 left. He missed both tries, but De'Angelo Speech, who got only two rebounds in the entire game, came up with the offensive rebound on Hunter's second miss, allowing CCSU to run 21 more precious seconds off the clock until McMillan was fouled and made both foul shots for the 65-53 bulge.
 
Lynn, who struggled shooting up until that late stage, making just one of his first nine 3-point tries, made a stunning reversal, connecting from downtown at 1:14, 1:08, 34.3 seconds, and 22.5 seconds. That along with two Smith free throws and a driving layup by Howard with 4.1 seconds showing, made the score 74-71.
 
In all, NJIT put 18 points on the board in just under 1:10, with all 9 of Central's points in the same span coming on 9-of-10 foul shooting by Vinales, who is over 82 percent accurate in his career at the foul line.
 
With all that, NJIT got the last shot with a chance to tie. The Blue Devils inbounded the ball to the middle of the lane under their defensive basket and Smith of the Highlanders got a piece of the ball, which came to Lynn outside the 3-point arc. The freshman, who appeared never to have a clean handle, elevated, hoping for a foul on contact, but there was no whistle. Instead the ball trickled to Emmanuel Tselentakis, who was credited with the steal. Getting off a shot from the left corner just ahead of the final buzzer, his try missed long to the back rim.
 
NJIT will continue its home stand on Sunday at 2 pm, when the Highlanders host the University at Albany in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center. It will be the second meeting this season between NJIT and the defending America East Conference champion Great Danes. UAlbany came out ahead 71-65 when the teams played on November 12 in New York's capital city.