Box Score

NEWARK, NJ—Terrence Smith's 22 points led four NJIT double-figure scoring starters in an 81-72 men's basketball win over visiting Maine Wednesday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
The Highlanders, who also defeated Maine, 88-82, on November 19 in Bangor, broke a short two-game skid and pushed their season record to 5-4. Maine is 1-6 after absorbing its fifth consecutive defeat, two against NJIT.
 
In an extreme rarity, the Highlanders never trailed at any time in either game of the home-and-home sweep, even though the Black Bears' shooting created some anxious moments for NJIT down the stretch both times.
 
Smith, who had a nice day's worth of stats in 15 minutes of first-half action, made all seven of his first-half shots and finished the game 9-for-10 from the floor, plus 8 rebounds, to go with his game-high 22 points.
 
Three men in their first seasons with NJIT added double-figure points totals. Freshman Damon Lynn finished with 19 points, while classmate Tim Coleman picked up 13 and a team-leading and personal season-high 9 rebounds, and sophomore transfer Winfield Willis scored 12 and had 3 assists without a turnover.
 
It was also a night of firsts for two other NJIT freshmen. Jake Duncan made his first college start and finished with a personal-best 6 rebounds and Montana Mayfield saw his first game action, entering as a sub at point guard less than four minutes in and contributing a 3-point basket and 3 assists in 19 minutes in his college debut.
 
Maine had three double-figure scorers, led by junior Zarko Valjarevic, who scored 19—15 on five 3-point baskets. Junior Xavier Pollard, who did not play the first time the Highlanders and Black Bears met, finished with 18 points and a game-high 11 rebounds and freshman Garet Beal chipped in 12 points before fouling out.
 
On a night where it committed an uncharacteristic number of turnovers (season-high 23) and shot under 72 percent at the foul line (68 percent; 19-for-28) for the first time in the last seven games, NJIT overcame that in part by dominating the rebounding.
 
With a season-high 46 rebounds, the Highlanders got 14 more than the visitors, who came in being outrebounded by a hard-to-manage average of 10 a game.
 
While the 6-foot-3 Pollard's 11 rebounds were game-high, no other Black Bear came down with more than four caroms. NJIT had four players with at least five rebounds and two others had four rebounds apiece.
 
Although NJIT never trailed, each half saw the Highlanders take double-figure leads followed by Maine comebacks that narrowed the margin considerably.
 
To begin the game, NJIT scored off the opening tip on a Coleman layup, was ahead 11-4 by the first media timeout and stretched the advantage to as many as 12, 36-24, after Willis hit a layup with 1:25 left in the opening half. But Maine closed to within eight after a Valjarevic triple and a free throw for Pollard before Lynn made the second of two free throws for NJIT with two seconds left, leading to a 37-28 Highlander lead at the break.
 
Smith's game-high totals at the break were 14 points and 7 rebounds as part of a 23-12 team advantage for the Highlanders against Maine.
 
The Black Bears had two players with 8 points each in the opening half, Dimitry Akanda-Coronel and Valjarevic. Akanda-Coronel, who scored his career-high 29 points the first time he faced the Highlanders, netted 26 of those points in the second half in Bangor. On this night, he scored one second-half point, missing all 5 of his shots from the field in 9 minutes' action after the intermission.
 
NJIT, which led Maine by as many as 17 points with 8:32 left in the first meeting last month before winning by 6, extended its second-half lead in the rematch to as many as 20, at 61-41 when Emmanuel Tselantakis drained a three with 10:34 on the second-half clock.
 
With five different Black Bears scoring in a 15-3 Maine run over the next 4:26, the visitors closed the gap to single-digits on Shaun Lawton drove through traffic in the lane for a layup that made the score 64-56 with 6:08 left.
 
The Highlanders pushed their bulge back to 11 on Smith's layup that made the score 72-61 with 3:30 left. But Maine exploited a brief spotty spell by NJIT taking care of the ball and shooting free throws. The Black Bears trimmed the lead all the way to 74-69 when Akanda-Coronel scored his only point of the second half, hitting the first of two free throws with 1:05 left.
 
Coleman came down with the big defensive rebound on the miss and Lynn hit all four of his free throws, Willis was 2-for-2, and Sydnor added 1-for-2 for a total of 7-for-8 at the line in the closing minute to secure the NJIT win
 
The Highlanders will wrap their run of five straight home games on Saturday afternoon when they host first-time opponent UMass Lowell in a 2 pm contest in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Even with the technical end of the home stand, the Highlanders won't leave Newark for a game until December 23, when they take the short ride to face St. Francis Brooklyn.
 
After hosting UMass Lowell on Saturday, NJIT will go to downtown Newark and the Prudential Center to face host Seton Hall on December 10 and then they'll return to campus for games against LIU Brooklyn and Holy Cross before crossing the Hudson and East Rivers to visit St. Francis.