Box Score


LORETTO, PA—Visiting NJIT dominated the second half, outscoring Saint Francis University by 13 points over the final 20 minutes and register a 64-56 men's basketball victory over the Red Flash Saturday afternoon in DeGol Arena.

Damon Lynn scored 18 to lead three double-figure scorers for the Highlanders (7-10), who got the first career double-double (10 points, career-high 10 rebounds) from sophomore guard Ky Howard, who also shared the team lead with 4 assists, plus 12 points (6-for-8 shooting) and 6 rebounds from sophomore Terrence Smith.

Sophomore Emmanuel Tselentakis and junior Odera Nweke were among several solid contributors off the NJIT bench, with Tselentakis setting new personal highs in rebounds (5) and assists (4) and Nweke posting a new season-high for points (8) with 5 rebounds, matching his season high. Starter Winfield Willis notched his NJIT rebounds high with 7.

The Highlanders, who have been hurt often by bigger opponents under the boards, were on the other side of the fence Saturday, with all those individual season and career bests helping NJIT to a convincing 47-30 team advantage on the boards.

In winning at Saint Francis (2-11), NJIT overcame a spectacular individual showing by Saint Francis low post player Earl Brown, who scored a career-high 31 points and led all rebounders with 11. The junior's previous scoring high had been 22 points, set last January at LIU Brooklyn.

The only other Red Flash in double figures was junior guard Ollie Jackson, who scored 12 points. Jackson, who came in shooting barely 20 percent (12-for-58) from 3-point distance, got 9 of his points on 3-for-4 shooting from distance in the first half, which ended with the home team on top 31-26.

In the second half, which saw the Highlanders outscore the Red Flash, 38-25, Brown was the only Saint Francis player who could do much of anything, supplying 17 of his team's 25 points over the decisive final 20 minutes.

Brown shot 6-for-11 from the floor in the second half, including his first made 3-pointer of the year on his second try of the season from beyond the arc, and went 4-for-6 at the foul line. The rest of the SFU, who combined for 8 points among them, shot 3-for-16 from the floor (1-for-10 on threes) and 1-for-4 on free throws in the second half.

NJIT, which was winless since a 55-44 victory at home over UMass Lowell on December 6, had been plagued recently with slow starts in a losing streak that had gone to six games. In those recent games, the slow starts proved fatal. At Saint Francis, the slow start was a hurdle the Highlanders managed to overcome.

The Highlanders began slowly again on Saturday, falling behind 10-2 in the opening five minutes of a first half that consisted of a series of back-and-forth spurts. NJIT came back to close to within two, 11-9, only to fall back, 20-11 and later, 25-17, after one of Jackson's threes with 4:12 left in the half.

NJIT again fought back within a point, making it 27-26 on Willis' driving layup with 1:02 left, but the Red Flash added four points in the last 31 seconds for the 31-26 halftime lead.

In the first half, NJIT was hurt in points-off-turnovers, where the Highlanders were outscored, 10-0. Normally a solid team with ball security (12.1 turnovers per game coming in), NJIT was at 8 turnovers (fueling 10 Saint Francis points) less than 8 minutes into the game.

However, the Highlanders shook off the bad start and had only 3 more turnovers in the final 27-plus minutes, including one for the entire second half.

After trailing the whole opening half, NJIT came out of the locker room and began the second half with a 6-0 spurt and soon went ahead for the first time of the afternoon, 32-31, when Howard made the first of two free throws at the 17:34 mark.

After a spell of back-and-forth, Howard made a layup at 15:01 to break a 34-34 tie and spark a personal 6-0 run put the Highlanders into the lead to stay.

NJIT never pulled away, but it always had enough to withstand anything the Red Flash offered.

Daquan Holiday came off the bench for two buckets in 41 seconds and his put-back lifted the visitors to a 54-46 advantage with 4:47 on the clock.

However, a Ronnie Drinnon layup, Brown's first 3-pointer of the season, and a short jumper by Jackson got the hosts within a point, 54-53, with 2:44 left.

Lynn, the freshman who has stood tall in big end-game spots before for NJIT, offered his team some breathing room with a made jump shot and a pair of free throws, followed by a Howard free throw that extended the NJIT lead back to six, 59-53, with 1:22 left.

Then, five-for-six foul shooting over the closing 1:04 secured the win for the Highlanders, whose eight-point lead at the closing buzzer was their biggest of the day.

With 17 games of its 29-game slate already in the books on January 4, the schedule will slow down a bit for NJIT, which is off until January 13. Only Jacksonville (AL) State, which played its 18th game later on Saturday, has more games than NJIT does among the 351 programs in NCAA Division I.

The Highlanders' next outing, on the 13th at 7 pm, will be against City College of New York in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.