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BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, NY—Having played its last eight games in Newark, going all the way back to November 23, NJIT will cross the Hudson and East Rivers to take on dangerous St. Francis Brooklyn in a rare weekday afternoon contest in a 2 pm start Monday in the last game for the teams before Christmas.
 
NJIT played seven of its most recent games on campus in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center, leaving only to take on Seton Hall downtown in the Prudential Center on December 10.
 
The Highlanders were on a high note, having won 6 of their first 10 games for the first time since 2000-01, when the program competed at the Division II level. But NJIT lost in The Rock, despite a particularly strong first-half showing, as Seton Hall prevailed 71-55.
 
That loss began a 3-game slide that the Highlanders will try to end in Brooklyn. Two days after the loss to Seton Hall, NJIT staged a furious late rally, but fell short, 96-93, at home against LIU Brooklyn. After more than a week away from games to wrap up the academic semester, the Highlanders returned and hosted Holy Cross on December 21. That game was going along normally, with NJIT on top by two late in the opening half, before Holy Cross took control with a 23-0 run that covered the last couple of minutes in the first half and the first three minutes of the second half. Down by 21, NJIT fought back to within 9 with about 5 minutes left, bringing the deficit back to where it had been at halftime. But Holy Cross closed out with a 74-55 victory.
 
NJIT will look for a return to the kind of balance that carried it to a four-game winning streak in November, helping to build that 6-4 start. In the start, it was always the same players contributing every game, but, for the most part, there were several players performing at a high level in a given game.
 
Freshman Damon Lynn continues to lead the team at 16.8 points per game, including 43 made 3-pointers just under halfway through his freshman year. Terrence Smith, who had his second double-double of the year in the loss to Holy Cross, gets 13.1 ppg and a team-best 5.5 rebounds per game. He is making nearly 58 percent of his shots from the field. Winfield Willis averages 10.8 points.
 
St. Francis presents a big challenge. Glenn Braica, a veteran on the New York college basketball scene, became head coach of the Terriers in 2010 after 6 years as an assistant at St. John's, which was preceded by 15 years as an assistant and associate coach with St. Francis.
 
Under Braica's guidance, the Terriers have been solid, with a well-earned reputation as hard-nosed overachievers, generally surpassing preseason predictions in the Northeast Conference.
 
This year, they're a veteran group that appears ready to take the next step. The began the season with a signature win, scoring a 66-62 overtime victory in Florida against Miami, the defending champion of the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference and a team that reached the Sweet 16 of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
 
They very nearly grabbed even bigger headlines when they took Syracuse, ranked 9th in the nation at time, to the wire before falling, 56-50, in front of 23,000 fans at the Carrier Dome on November 18.
 
The Terriers, who have won their last two, defeating Lafayette at home, 65-62, on a buzzer beater on the 19th and scoring an impressive 67-51 win over Canisius, before that, have markedly different team scoring statistics than NJIT has.
 
The Terriers are scoring 63.1 points per game and yielding 63.3 ppg. NJIT, meanwhile, scores 71.8 ppg, but has been hurt by a defense that allows 73.9 ppg. Only three Terrier opponents have reached 70 points and they held Miami to 62 and Syracuse to 56.
 
Junior Jalen Cannon, a high school classmate of NJIT's Daquan Holiday, is the most consistent threat for St. Francis, averaging 14.3 points and 8.1 rebounds. Freshman Wayne Martin averages 8.9 points and senior guard Ben Mockford added 8.6 ppg, followed closely by freshman Sheldon Hagigal (7.9 ppg).
 
The teams have two common opponents this season, both from the Patriot League. NJIT beat Army 89-85 at West Point on November 15 and Army beat St. Francis, also at Army, 67-54, on December 7. The Highlanders won their home opener against Lafayette on November 23, 91-88 in overtime. And the Terriers had the buzzer-beating 65-62 victory over the Leopards on December 19.
 
In NJIT's Division I era (which began in 2006-07), St. Francis owns a 72-47 win in 2010-11, a 79-60 win in 2011-12, and an 89-87 win last season. Cannon had a dominant performance for the Terriers in that one, with 23 points and 12 rebounds. A season earlier, Mockford shot 6-for-10 from 3-point distance with a game-high 22 points vs. the Highlanders.
 
Matt Provence, voice of the Highlanders, will have all the play-by-play action live here on www.NJITHighlanders.com. Matt's coverage begins at least 15 minutes before tipoff.