Game Highlights (Video)

Postgame Comments from Engles, Ukawuba, Bendary, Lynn (Video)


LORETTO, PA—Every successful team has one or more "gut-check" games in the course of a season and one of those came Wednesday night for the NJIT Highlanders, who overcame a 7-point halftime deficit to pull out a 77-65 non-conference men's basketball victory at Saint Francis University.
 
The Highlanders, now 8-6, have had their share of highs and lows in the latter part of December (played poorly in a December 12 loss at Columbia; then beat St. John's on the 20th for NJIT's first-ever win over a BIG EAST foe and then absorbed a disappointing 83-61 home loss against Stony Brook two nights before taking the floor at Saint Francis) and they found themselves down 33-21 to SFU with 3:55 left in the first half.
 
NJIT later trimmed the first-half deficit to just 4 points, only to have Malik Harmon toss in a 30-foot shot for the Red Flash, beating the halftime buzzer and putting the Red Flash on top at the break, 42-35.
 
Harmon's 3-pointer was the seventh made in 11 first-half tries from downtown by Saint Francis. Overall, the Red Flash (4-7) made 58 percent of their first-half shots from the field, nearly identical to Stony Brook's shooting Monday in what was the best one-game field goal percentage for an NJIT opponent this season.
 
That all changed in a second half that saw the visiting Highlanders outscore Saint Francis 42-23 to flip the 12-point deficit from late in the first half into a 12-point road victory, handing the Red Flash their first defeat of the season in DeGol Arena after a 4-0 start on their home court.
 
After allowing Saint Francis to shoot 58 percent in the opening half, the Highlanders held the home team to 25 percent (8-for-32) over the second 20 minutes. And the Red Flash 7-for-11 accuracy from downtown in the opening half dipped to 4-for-18 from distance in the second half.
 
Outrebounded in the opening half, 18-15, NJIT ruled the boards in the second half, 28-18.
 
NJIT's leading scorer Wednesday night was junior Rob Ukawuba with 17 points of the winners' bench. Tim Coleman added 16 points to go with 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocked shots and Damon Lynn chipped in 12 points, a new career-high 8 rebounds and a game-high 5 assists. Freshman big man Mohamed Bendary shared the team rebound lead with Lynn, pulling down 8 in just 9 minutes of play.
 
Greg Brown's 18 points led Saint Francis, followed by Harmon, who tossed in the 30-footer to beat the halftime buzzer, and finished with 14 points. Both men did most of their scoring damage in the first half, when they scored 11 points apiece.
 
Red Flash senior Ronnie Drinnan grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and scored 7 points.
 
Saint Francis did not help itself at the foul line, going 8-for-16 on free throws for the game. NJIT, which did not attempt a foul shot in the first half, shot 14-for-17 on second-half free throws, which turned out to be an important element in the winning comeback.

Things weren't anywhere near as rosy in the frist half as they were at the final buzzer.  The Highlanders, who gave up the first 14 points of the game in their Monday night loss to Stony Brook, fell into a 13-5 hole less than 4 minutes into the game at Saint Francis.
 
NJIT followed with a 10-0 rally to claim a 15-13 lead after Chris Jenkins drained a 3-pointer with 12:28 to play in the opening half. However, NJIT stalled at 15 for 5:21 until Ukawuba's three broke the dry spell, but by then, Saint Francis held a 24-15 edge.
 
It wasn't much longer before Saint Francis forged a 12-point lead, its biggest of the night, at 30-18 and then 33-21 after senior Ben Millaud-Meunier's trey with 3:55 remaining in the first half.
 
NJIT spurted again, 17-9 this time, to cut the score to 39-35 before Harmon's heave from 30 feet at the buzzer put the halftime score at 42-35, Saint Francis.
 
Brown made a 3-pointer for Saint Francis on the first possession of the second half, putting the Red Flash back up by 10 points.

But NJIT quickly showed it was not going down without a struggle. The Highlanders' first possession of the second half, though not pretty, foreshadowed the grit that would put the Highlanders over the top in the second half.
                                                                                                                        
They missed seven shots on the possession, but each time, they came up with an offensive rebound to keep the play alive before Bendary finally put back a layup after an offensive rebound for NJIT's first bucket of the half.
 
The Highlanders kept clawing and they finally took a 54-53 lead on two foul shots by Coleman with 10:53 left.
 
There were four more lead changes and four more ties before Ukawuba made two free throws, followed by a fast-break layup 12 seconds later that gave NJIT a 64-61 lead with 6:12 on the clock.
 
Saint Francis managed just 4 points the rest of the way and the Highlanders pulled away down the stretch.
 
NJIT will return home and play its first game of the 2016 calendar year and its last non-conference home game of the season when it hosts UMBC on Saturday at 4 pm in the Fleisher Athletic Center.