BANGOR, Maine—NJIT sophomore Damon Lynn matched his season scoring high with 27 points and the visiting Highlanders rallied from a 7-point deficit at the midpoint of the second half for a 65-55 men's basketball win over Maine in the Cross Insurance Center here Monday afternoon.
 
The other double-figure scorer for the 11-10 Highlanders was sophomore Rob Ukawuba, who netted a career-best 14 points, 11 of which came in the second half.
 
NJIT, which won five in a row from December 28 until a 62-53 loss at Dartmouth Saturday afternoon, has now beaten Maine (1-17) four times in the last two seasons. NJIT took both ends of a home-and-home from the Black Bears a season ago and then matched the feat with Monday's win, following up a 90-86 victory vs. Maine in Newark back on November 17.
 
Lynn, who had his first 27-point game of the season in an 84-81 win at Duquesne on November 29, came into the game at Maine having had rare back-to-back games where he didn't post double-figure point totals.
 
He took care of that quickly against Maine, pouring in 13 of NJIT's 25 first-half points (NJIT led at the break, 25-24). Lynn, who played all 40 minutes against the Black Bears, made four 3-pointers and shot 9-for-9 at the foul line, while also compiling a team-leading five assists with only two turnovers.
 
Ukawuba, who is playing an increasingly vital role with some of his key teammates absent due to injury, came off the bench and logged 27 minutes at Maine. His career-high 14 points were two more than his previous high of 12, which he had reached in each of the preceding two games.
 
Maine's sharpshooting big guard Zarko Valjarevic led the Black Bears in scoring with 12 points in 31 minutes off the bench. The senior got all 12 of his points in the second half and they all came on 3-pointers, as he shot 4-for-6 from downtown. Indeed, three of the senior's 3-pointers came in a span of 88 seconds when he made three in a row from distance between the 13:47 mark and the 12:19 mark.
 
His first 3-pointer in the flurry gave Maine a 32-31 lead and the third in the rapid-fire sequence put the Black Bears ahead 38-34.
 
Not much later, at 9:56, Kevin Little nailed another 3-pointer to give Maine what would be its biggest lead, 43-36.
 
Winfield Willis answered with a three on the next possession, sparking a 15-2 NJIT run that included five points apiece for Lynn and Ukawuba, staking the visitors to a 51-45 lead on Ukawuba's 3-pointer with 4:19 left.
 
Garet Beal made a pair of free throws to slow the NJIT surge a bit, but then Tim Coleman made a jump shot to put the Highlanders back up by six.
 
Valjarevic's fourth 3-pointer of the game closed Maine to within three at 53-50 with 3:11 left, but the Black Bears would get no closer. Ukawuba scored for NJIT on the next possession and Lynn and Willis each made four foul shots in the last 1:11 to lock up the win.
 
The total team rebounds were even at 30 apiece, with Coleman and Holiday each grabbing seven rebounds to lead NJIT and Beal and Valjarevic collecting six apiece for Maine.
 
Holiday blocked a game-high four shots for NJIT and played a big role in limiting Maine's leading scorer coming in, 6-foot-8 junior Till Gloger, to just five shots and six points. Gloger had been averaging 11.2 ppg for Maine.

Holiday has 116 career blocked shots, good for second on NJIT's Division I-era list behind Dan Stonkus, who notched 145 blocks from 2006-10. Holiday entered play Monday tied with Ryan Regis (112 from 2008-2012).
  

Another plus for NJIT vs. Maine was a low turnover total. The Highlanders had committed a season-worst 23 turnovers in the loss at Dartmouth, 15 in the first half alone. At Maine, NJIT had just 10 turnovers in the entire game.
 
Maine had only 12 turnovers, but the Highlanders had a crucial 17-7 edge in points-off-turnovers with that 10-point edge exactly equal to the 10-point margin of victory.
 
The Highlanders will have a chance to catch their breath, coming home to Newark Monday afternoon after a seven hour-plus bus ride. NJIT''s next game is not until Sunday, January 25, at South Alabama in Mobile in a 2 pm (Central) start.
 
After that, NJIT plays all six of its February games at home in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.