NEWARK, NJ—In a men's basketball game featuring eight ties and 10 lead changes in the second half alone, NJIT came out two points better than visiting St. Francis Brooklyn, 68-66, Tuesday night in a toe-to-toe battle in front of a standing room only crowd in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
NJIT, with three wins in its last four contests, is 4-5 overall after defeating St. Francis (2-6), which was picked to finish first this season in the Northeast Conference coaches' preseason poll.
Damon Lynn scored 22 points to top the NJIT scoring, with 16 of his points coming in the second half, including two free throws with 1:13 remaining to break a 66-66 tie for the final two points by either team. He actually scored NJIT's last six points of the game with a layup and four free throws in the closing 2:28.
Winfield Willis added 12 points and
Tim Coleman 11, as NJIT won what was its first home game since November 22 and its last one at home until December 30. Coleman also provided four of NJIT's seven blocked shots.
Daquan Holiday topped NJIT's rebounders with seven, as the Highlanders finished with a 36-31 lead under the backboards.
Ky Howard added six caroms for NJIT and Coleman, who had a strong all-around game, grabbed five off the boards.
The crowd of 1,372 filled all the seats joined by additional standees, as the home fans greeted their Highlanders for the first home game since NJIT won 72-70 at #17/#16 Michigan on December 6. It was the largest known home crowd ever at Fleisher Athletic Center.
St. Francis, too, had three double-figure scorers, paced by senior guard Brent Jones, who had 16 points and also made a game-best 4 steals. Junior Tyreek Jewell chipped in 14 points and star senior low-post player Jalen Cannon added 12 points.
Bouncy 6-foot-7 junior big man Amdy Fall scored six points and led St. Francis in rebounds (6), while blocking a team-best four shots.
The second half began with NJIT holding a 38-33 advantage. However, the visiting Terriers closed the gap quickly and then seized the lead when Jewell hit a 3-pointer at the 18:58 mark and then Jones connected from downtown at 18:09 to push St. Francis ahead, 39-38.
Then came the multiple ties and lead changes and neither team would lead by more than 3 points the rest of the way.
The score was knotted at 62 apiece until Lynn drove for a layup to put the Highlanders ahead with 2:26 remaining. Cannon answered with a pair of free throws 23 seconds later, producing the game's 12th tie.
Lynn made two more free throws for another two-point NJIT lead, but Jones drove for a layup at 1:30, leveling the score at 66-66.
The deciding points for Lynn came after he was knocked to the floor on a St. Francis foul while attempting a deep 3-pointer from five feet beyond the top of the key. Awarded three foul shots, he missed the first, but swished the next two with 73 seconds left.
After a St. Francis miss on the other end and a defensive rebound for NJIT's Howard, Lynn missed on a 3-point try and Jewell grabbed the rebound for the Terriers, who advanced the ball into the other lane, where an NJIT defender was called for a kicked ball with 5.2 seconds left.
Terrier coach Glenn Braica took timeout to design a play, which resulted in a 3-point shot for Jewell, whose attempt at a game-winner missed, with the final horn sounding as the ball came off the backboard.
The first half was also close, but the Terriers had the upper hand early, going up by a game-high seven points, 9-2, after Jewell's 3-pointer just 3:11 into the game.
St. Francis still led by six, 19-13, after a Jones triple at the 10:56 mark of the opening half. But NJIT ran off eight unanswered points for a 21-19 lead, before a Jones three put the Terriers back ahead.
However, the Highlanders outscored the visiting Terriers 7-2 in the closing 2:38 of the opening half to take a 38-33 advantage into the locker room. Howard made four foul shots and Coleman hit a three for NJIT's points in the closing surge.
Coleman's seven points topped NJIT at the break, supported by six each from Howard, Lynn, and
Odera Nweke. Cannon had 10 points and Jones nine for the Terriers through the first 20 minutes,
Cannon, a first-team all-Northeast Conference honoree last season had scored a game-high 18 points when the Terriers downed NJIT 77-63 last December 23 in Brooklyn. He scored eight of his team's first 11 points Tuesday night, but he only managed four the rest of the night, including two in 18 minutes' action in the second half,
Having enjoyed the lift it got from the overflow home crowd against St. Francis, NJIT will play its next five away from home, beginning with a 7 pm game Friday in Worcester, MA, against Holy Cross.
Holy Cross is 4-3, including a win over Harvard, ranked #25 in the nation at the time and a convincing 74-57 road win at UAlbany, which defeated NJIT by the same 17-point bulge (65-48) on November 19 in Albany, NY.
In the first all-time men's basketball meeting between NJIT and Holy Cross last December 21 in Newark, the visiting Crusaders prevailed handily, 74-55.
Matt Provence will have all the action with live streaming audio play-by-play as coverage begins here on www.njithighlanders.com at least 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled 7 pm start.
