Men's Basketball | 12/11/2014 6:13:00 PM

NJIT Men's Basketball Gameday Information

Game 9	NJIT (4-5) at Holy Cross (4-3)
Date | Time	Decemeber 12, 2014 | 7pm
Location | Arena	Worcester, MA | Hart Center
Game Notes	NJIT Game Notes | Holy Cross Game Notes
Live Video	Crusader Video
Live Radio	Highlanders Sports Network
Live Stats	In-Game Stats
Social Media	@njithighlanders

WORCESTER, MA--It was fun while it lasted. After playing 4 consecutive road games, the Highlanders returned to a hero's welcome Tuesday night, when they defeated St. Francis Brooklyn, 68-66, in front of a standing room only crowd shoehorned into the Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
The reason for the outpouring of fan support was a 72-70 win on December 6 at Michigan, ranked #17 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and #16 in the USA TODAY coaches poll at the time. Many in the media have worked hard to put the magnitude of the upset in context, but it's hard to argue with college basketball pundit Doug Gottlieb termed it the college basketball "upset of the century."
 
But the schedule doesn't end with a big December victory, no matter how huge, in December. The battle with St. Francis, the coaches' poll preseason pick to win the Northeast Conference was as tight as could be, with 13 ties and 15 lead changes and no lead bigger than 3 either way over the last 18:06.
 
Following that battle, NJIT will play its next five games on the road, starting with the trip to Holy Cross, a team that belted the Highlanders last season in Newark, 74-55.
 
The five road games will take place between Dec. 12 and Dec. 28.
 
The first game ever between NJIT and Holy Cross was last December 21 in Newark.
 
The Crusaders, who play in the Patriot League, broke open what had been a close game by scoring 23 unanswered points between the last 2:33 of the first half and the opening 2:44 of the second half for what ended as a 74-55 win over NJIT last December 21.
 
Forward Malcolm Miller had 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 blocked shots and fellow forward Eric Green added 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the win. Then-senior big man Dave Dudzinski chipped in 14 points and 6 rebounds.
 
Holy Cross was picked third out of 10 teams in the Patriot League preseason coaches' poll.
 
Miller and Green are both back and Miller is the top scorer, averaging 12.4 pts, followed by 5-9 senior d Justin Burrell (11.3 ppg) and sophomore Anthony Thompson (10.4 ppg). Green is getting 8.7 ppg.
 
A look at the rebounding shows something of an oddity. The Crusaders are holding their own as a team, 31.4 rpg-to-34.9 rpg for the opponents. However, the leading individual rebounder, sophomore Malachi Alexander, only averages 4.1 rpg, an unusually low average for a team leader. Miller averages 3.9 rpg and is one of four Crusaders averaging between 3 rpg and 3.9 rpg.
 
Head coach Milan Brown is in his fifth season at Holy Cross with a 59-70 record, including the season's 4-3. The Crusaders were 20-14 last season and advanced to the second round of the College Insider Tournament.
 
Prior to Holy Cross, Coach Brown guided Mt. St. Mary's for seven seasons, leading The Mount to postseason play in two of his last three seasons. Included was the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament win in 2008.
 
NJIT has won three of its last four games, including the program's first-ever win against a team from the Atlantic 10 Conference (84-81 on November 29) and against a ranked team and a team from the Big Ten Conference (Michigan). And both wins came on the road.
 
NJIT has three players averaging double-figure scoring, led by sophomore Damon Lynn's 19.1 points per game. Damon was named Lou Henson Award Mid-Major Player of the Week and ECAC Metro/Upstate co-Player of the Week.
 
Ky Howard averages 12 points and is the leading rebounder with 6.9 rpg., while Winfield Willis is scoring 10.6 ppg.
 
Matt Provence will have the live streaming audio play by play call on www.njithighlanders.com.