Game Highlights (Video)

Photo Gallery

PROVIDENCE, RI—Providence College is promoting junior guard Kris Dunn for National Player of the Year and on Monday night he showed why, coming close to a nearly-unheard of quadruple-double, with a team-leading 22 points, 10 rebounds, a game-high 9 assists, and a game-high 7 steals in leading the Friars past a determined NJIT squad 83-76 in non-conference men's basketball in front of 5,009 fans in the Dunkin' Donuts Center.
 
Dunn, the reigning BIG EAST Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, was one of four double-figure scorers for the Friars, who raised their season won-lost record to 4-0 by defeating the Highlanders.
 
Ben Bentil, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, scored 19 for PC, followed closely by his classmate, 6-foot-8 Rodney Bullock, who scored 18 points while also leading all rebounders with 12. Jalen Lindsey, a long 6-foot-7 sophomore guard, came off the Friars bench to score 12 points.
 
NJIT (3-2) lost despite a game-high 24 points for Damon Lynn and a career-high 20 points in 22 minutes from junior sixth man Rob Ukawuba.
 
Senior point guard Ky Howard added 10 points and 7 rebounds for the Highlanders, who outrebounded the bigger, bulkier BIG EAST team 38-34. Tim Coleman's 8 rebounds paced NJIT.
 
Two key team statistics in favor of the victorious Friars were a 42-22 advantage in points in the paint and a 23-13 lead in points off turnovers.
 
Providence's advantage in interior scoring was vital because NJIT's defense held the home team to 4-for-20 shooting from 3-point distance.
 
The points off turnovers lead for Providence was especially notable in the opening half, when the Highlanders committed 11 turnovers—four on Dunn steals—and the Friars led in points off turnovers, 15-5, with the margin exactly matching their 10-point lead at the half, 37-27.
 
NJIT led 18-16 after Mohamed Bendary's layup with 9:04 remaining in the first half, but Providence went on a 17-0 run to take 35-18 lead on Dunn's put-back layup with 3:05 left in the half.
 
The Highlanders, who would shoot 36 percent from the field in the opening half, missed three shots in a row after Bendary had given them the 18-16 lead. Then they committed three consecutive turnovers in a span of 59 seconds that included two steals by Dunn.
 
Two more turnovers led to five more Providence points, the last two coming on Dunn's layup that made the score 35-18.
 
That 17-point bulge proved to be the high-water mark of the night for Providence and NJIT rallied to close out the last 2:38 of the half on a 9-2 spurt that trimmed the deficit from 17 to 10 by the time the horn sounded.
 
The Friars got the first four points of the second half, extending their lead back to 14 and eventually 15 after a layup for Bentil made the score 45-30 with 16:59 remaining.
 
However the second basket of the night for Bendary, NJIT's freshman big man, sparked a 7-0 run that pulled the Highlanders to within eight, 45-37, after Ukawuba's old school 3-point play with 14:20 left.
  
NJIT improved its offensive execution in the second half, resulting in some promising spurts. Although they ended with a season-worst 22 turnovers, the Highlanders were even with PC on points off turnovers in the second half, 8-8. At the same time, NJIT upped its shooting accuracy to 57 percent (13-23) in the second half from 36 percent (10-28) in the opening half, for a solid final percentage of 45.1.
 
However, Providence seemed to have an answer every time NJIT surged and the closest the visitors got was within five at 70-65 after Ukawuba made a 3-pointer with 3:18 remaining. Later, the Highlanders were down 77-71 after Lynn drilled his fourth 3-pointer of the night with 1:58 remaining, but Providence responded with two points on its next possession.
 
The most difficult schedule in NJIT history continues with a game the night after Thanksgiving, when the Highlanders travel visit New York's Capital to take on  three-time defending America East Conference champion UAlbany in a 7 o'clock game Friday night.
 
Notes
--NJIT and upcoming opponent UAlbany have played home-and-home each of the preceding two seasons and the Great Danes, one of the better mid-major teams in the East, have prevailed all four times, most recently 65-59 in front of a sellout crowd in the Fleisher Athletic Center last February 13. Friday's tilt is the only scheduled meeting this season.
--The loss to UAlbany last February was one of just two blemishes on NJIT's record from January 19, 2015 through season's end. The Highlanders were 11-2 in that span.
--Ukawuba's previous career scoring high was 18 points against NAIA Fisher last February. His previous season high was 6 points vs. #2 Kentucky in the 2015-16 opener and his previous high against an NCAA Division I opponent was 14 at Maine last January.
--Damon Lynn's game-high 24 points against Providence upped his season scoring average to 19.6 points per game and his four 3-pointers raised his season total in that department to 17.
--The Highlanders continued their strong foul shooting, connecting on 21-of-27 tries (77.8 pct) against Providence. And that actually lowered their overall season percentage to a still-terrific 80.9 (89-110).