Live video and live audio play-by-play from Matt Provence on NJITHighlanders.com (subscription fees apply)
 
Live stats link (free)


NEWARK, NJ—NJIT men's basketball nears the end of the 2013-14 season with a 2 pm visit from the Fisher College Falcons Saturday on campus in the Fleisher Athletic Center. The game is part of men's basketball Alumni Day activities, which begin with the annual Highlander Alumni game at 11 am.
 
The Highlanders, who completed the road portion of their schedule on Wednesday night with a thrilling 77-76 victory at Maryland Eastern Shore, will close out the home slate by facing Fisher on Saturday and then welcoming a tough North Carolina Central Tuesday, February 25, at 7 pm. NCCU, which visits its archrival, North Carolina A&T, Saturday night, is 20-5 with 12 consecutive wins, making the Eagles a strong contender for national postseason play.
 
But first things first, the Highlanders have to contend with Fisher, which has won its last two, raising its season mark to 13-16.
 
Matt Provence, voice of the Highlanders, will have all of the action here on www.NJITHighlanders.com, with coverage beginning at least 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled 2 pm tip. The coverage, which is available by subscription, can be accessed as a single game pass ($6.95).
 
Based in Boston, Fisher's teams hold membership in the larger National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the subgroup Association of Independent Institutions, 19 schools within the NAIA that, among other things, serve a role similar to a conference in facilitating national NAIA tournament access for independent NAIA teams.
 
Fisher, which will play its last regular season game, is one of eight teams in AII Division 2 and will be the fourth seed in AII D2 tournament to be held in Iowa February 28 and March 1. The winner of that tournament gets a berth in the national NAIA Division 2 championship field.
 
The NAIA was founded in 1940 as a basketball-only grouping and given its current name in 1952, when it added other sports. At one time, NJIT and before it, Newark College of Engineering, were NAIA members, as were many of the smaller college athletic institutions in the East.
 
The creation of NCAA Division III caused many of those schools to migrate to the NCAA and NJIT was one such school, in 1974. Other Eastern schools, including all the remaining New Jersey-based NAIA schools moved to the NCAA, some to Division II, over the next couple of decades.
 
As a result, Fisher, located on Beacon Street in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, is one of the few remaining NAIA members in the Northeastern part of the country and is the NAIA's last member in the  New England region.
 
The Falcons, who began playing men's basketball in 2001-02, are in their eighth full season under coach David Lindberg. Son of a Maine high school coaching legend, Lindberg led Fisher to five championships in a span of seven seasons in the NAIA Sunrise Conference, which no longer exists. In 2008-09, Fisher was 22-11 and followed that with a 25-6 mark the following year.
 
He does not shy away from "playing up" as NJIT will be Fisher's second Division I opponent, as the Falcons visited Maine early in the season (lost 111-64 on November 10). The Falcons also played two NCAA Division II teams in a three-game pre-Christmas trip to Florida. A common foe in addition to Maine, which NJIT defeated twice earlier this season, Fisher swept two games from Maine Fort Kent, which lost to the Highlanders on February 12.
 
The top scorer this season for the Falcons is sophomore swingman Tyler Shular, averaging 17.2 points per game. He has eight games of at least 20 points, including 20 vs. Division I Maine. Orlando Zayas, a 6-foot-6 junior, is averaging 11.4 points.
 
The top rebounder is burly junior Earnest McNeil (7.9 rpg). He scores 9.7 ppg and juniors Ira Haywood and Chris Green each score nine a game on a team that averages 75.5 points per game. Green, from Long Island, spent a postgrad year at NIA Prep in Newark.
 
Last season on January 30, NJIT beat Fisher, 108-69. From NJIT's point-of-view the game was noteworthy for the performance of then-senior Chris Flores, who scored 32 points in 23 minutes without missing a shot. He was 11-for-11 from the floor, including 7-for-7 on 3-pointers, and 3-for-3 at the foul line. According to ESPN, Flores was the first college player to score at least 30 without missing a shot and also making at least seven threes since 2007. For his efforts, Flores made ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10.
 
Of NJIT's five double-figure scorers from that night, only one, Daquan Holiday (10 points) will be on the floor Saturday. However, Shuler scored 22 points (6-8 field goals; 5-6 3-pointers) and Green added 14 points.
 
The Highlanders come in looking to match the season-best four consecutive wins they logged November 15 to 23.
 
Leading the way are Damon Lynn (17.2 points per game) and Terrence Smith (12.1 ppg).
 
Lynn scored 27 points, including the tying and go-ahead free throws with 2.3 seconds left in the 77-76 win at UMES. He made seven 3-pointers in the contest, extending his school season record to 102. He ranks fourth nationally in 3-point field goals made per game (3.78).
 
Smith shot 6-for-7 in the last win, raising his season field goal percentage to 61.5 (142-of-231), which has moved him up to fifth in Division I. His 6.0 rebounds per game top the Highlanders.
 
Ky Howard tied his career high with 10 rebounds in the win Wednesday and he also scored 7 points and gave out 5 assists, raising his season assists to an even 100.