NEWARK, NJ—NJIT closed out the 2014 portion of its men's basketball schedule with an impressive 77-65 victory over visiting Saint Francis U in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center Tuesday night.
The Highlanders (6-9) gave a solid showing in many important aspects of the game in thwarting the Red Flash, who came in on a three-game winning streak that included a 73-68 upset in their previous game at Rutgers on December 20 in Piscataway. Saint Francis is 6-5 after falling to the Highlanders.
NJIT, which snapped a brief two-game losing streak, got balanced scoring leadership, headed by 17 points for
Damon Lynn and 15 points apiece for
Tim Coleman and
Winfield Willis.
Coleman, who played 24 minutes before fouling out, matched his career scoring high (done previously last season at New Hampshire) and he tied his season rebounding high with a team-best 7 boards. He also had 7 rebounds in NJIT's previous game at Lafayette last Sunday afternoon. The sophomore handed out a game-high 4 assists, blocked 3 shots and made an NJIT-leading 2 steals.
Lynn came in right at his season's scoring average (17.6 ppg) and Willis reached double-figure scoring for the third time in the last four contests.
Saint Francis, which owned impressive wins over Navy (by 17 points), UAlbany (by 10 points), and Duquesne (by 15 points), in addition to the victory at Rutgers, got a game-high 21 points from senior forward
Earl Brown; 17 points from
Malik Harmon, the 2013-14 Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year; and, 10 points from senior guard
Ollie Jackson.
The Red Flash, who held a slight 33-30 team rebounding edge, were led in that category junior forward
Ronnie Drinnon's game-high 11 rebounds. The physical forward, who pulled down 18 rebounds in the win at Rutgers, has 42 rebounds over his last three games, an average of 14 per game. Brown added 7 boards for the visitors.
Saint Francis, which made 12 steals in the game, got 4 from Drinnon and 3 from Clark. The 12 steals were linked to NJIT's total of 13 turnovers. Tellingly, however, those 13 Highlanders miscues only led to 7 Saint Francis points. Opponents' points-off-turnovers is a category that has troubled the Highlanders too often this season, but against Saint Francis, NJIT won that department, 22-7.
NJIT, which led for just 2:57 of its tight 76-71 defeat at Lafayette over the weekend, pretty much reversed that against Saint Francis, as the Highlanders led for 32:01 in total and by at least 10 points for the final 8:55 of the convincing win.
Tuesday's 12-point margin of victory was the most this season for NJIT, surpassing the previous best winning margin of 8 points, 84-76, at another Northeast Conference foe, Central Connecticut, on December 20. With the win over Saint Francis U, the Highlanders ended 3-1 against teams from the NEC, with wins over St. Francis Brooklyn, Central Connecticut, and Saint Francis U and a loss at LIU Brooklyn.
NJIT led 28-24 at the end of a first half that featured a statistical oddity—the Highlanders were a strong 6-for-12 on 3-point shots in the opening half, but just 1-for-9 on shots inside the arc for a combined 7-for-21 that left NJIT's overall field goal percentage at .333, but its 3-point percentage at .500. In addition, the Highlanders were 8-for-8 on free throws.
Lynn and Willis had 8 points each to lead the Highlanders at the break, while Harmon's 7 points topped the visiting Red Flash.
The shooting stats became more orthodox in the second half, with the Highlanders making 55.2 percent of their field goal attempts overall (16-for-29), including 13-of-19 inside the arc. They also shot 14-for-18 at the foul line in the second half, helping them maintain their double-digit lead down the stretch.
Brown, the All-NEC forward for Saint Francis, had scored his career-high 31 points last season against NJIT in a game the Highlanders won, 64-56. It was also the most points for an individual NJIT opponent in 2013-14.
He finished Tuesday night's game with 21 points, 17 of them in the second half. Included in the 17 second-half points were 13 in the final 5:32. By then, however, NJIT had taken a 14-point lead that eventually got as high as 16 after a traditional 3-point play by
Ky Howard made it 68-52 for the Highlanders with 2:15 left in the game.
Coleman, who was one of the primary defenders against Brown, had a strong second-half stat line, with 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block. Howard and Lynn each scored 9 in the second half, followed by Willis and
Rob Ukawuba with 7 points each.
In addition to shooting better than 55 percent from the field in the second half, the Highlanders committed just 3 turnovers in the second half, compared to 10 in the first half.
The strong offensive execution led to 49 second-half points for the Highlanders, a total that is impressive under any circumstances. That it came against a Saint Francis team that was allowing just 60.9 points per game through its first 10 contests and had held four opponents under 54 points for an entire game made the Highlanders' feat even more impressive.
NJIT's 77 points for the game were the second-highest score against Saint Francis in a game this season. Only Texas, ranked #11 in the latest Associated Press poll and #10 in the USA TODAY coaches' poll, scored more (78) against SFU than the 77 points put on the board by the Highlanders.
Having played just its fourth home contest in 15 starts with the game against Saint Francis, NJIT opens 2015 on the road for its next game, a contest on Friday, January 2, at first-time opponent UMBC in Baltimore at 7 pm. UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) is a member of the America East Conference.
Matt Provence will describe the action live, free-of-charge, on the Highlanders Sports Network on www.njithighlanders.com.
