Box Score

NEWARK, NJ—Damon Lynn scored all of his team-leading 16 points in the opening 20 minutes, helping NJIT to a 52-23 halftime lead and the Highlanders cruised from there for an 84-45 men's basketball win over visiting University of Maine at Fort Kent Wednesday night in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Lynn connected on 5-of-7 field goal attempts, including 3-for-5 on 3-pointers, extending his school season-record total to 92 3-point baskets for the 11-15 Highlanders.
 
In addition to the freshman Lynn, the Highlanders got 13 points and a team-leading 8 rebounds from another rookie, Tim Coleman, and junior Odera Nweke chipped in 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting and added 7 rebounds. Freshman point guard Montana Mayfield played 25 minutes off the NJIT bench, notching a game-leading 7 assists without a turnover.
 
U-Maine-Fort Kent (7-19) received 16 points from junior guard James Givens, followed by 10 off the bench for sophomore guard Mauro Vicic. Nikola Vukosavovic, a 6-foot-9 freshman from Montenegro, shared game rebounding honors with a team-best 8 boards to go with 7 points and a team-leading 3 assists.
 
UMFK led briefly in the early going when sophomore captain Fred Sanchez connected on his only 3-point attempt of the night, giving the visitors a 6-5 lead 82 seconds into the game.
 
Winfield Willis, who scored the first seven points of the night for the Highlanders, made a jump shot 14 seconds after the Sanchez triple, staking NJIT to a lead it did not relinquish the rest of the night.
 
Willis' go-ahead bucket triggered an 8-2 run and a later 15-0 NJIT spurt from the 12:24 mark until a traditional 3-point play (layup-and-free throw) by Rob Ukawuba with 6:52 remaining stretched the Highlanders' lead from 19-12 to 34-12.
 
NJIT took its biggest first-half lead (29 points) on a Lynn layup with 31 seconds left in the opening half. Each team added a pair of points and the Highlanders took a 52-23 advantage into the locker room after 20 minutes of play.
 
Lynn topped all scorers at the break with his 16 points, followed by Coleman (9 points) and Nweke and Willis with seven apiece for NJIT. Givens and Sanchez each scored five first-half points for the Bengals.
 
The Highlanders pushed  their lead above 30 for the first time at 56-25 following a Ky Howard tip-in with 18:18 remaining and they led by at least 30 over the final 12:16. NJIT's biggest bulge was 42 (84-42) after a 3-pointer for Ukawuba with 2:28 left in the game.
 
NJIT will take a week off before returning to action on February 19 for the last of 16 away games in the 2013-14 season, when the Highlanders visit University of Maryland Eastern Shore for a 7 pm game.