NEWARK, NJ—Evan Singletary's layup with 4:19 left in the game put visiting UAlbany ahead to stay and he later scored on a driving baseline layup with 23.2 seconds on the clock after NJIT had closed to within a point, helping preserve a 65-59 victory for the Great Danes, won their 13th in a row Friday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Singletary, who scored 10 points, was one of five double-figure scorers for UAlbany (18-7), which has not lost any of its 13 games in the 2015 calendar year and has come out on top in 16 of its last 17 games going back to December 13
 
Senior forward Sam Rowley led the Great Danes with a game-high 16 points, followed by 12 points from junior guard Ray Sanders and 10 apiece from Singletary, Dallas Ennema, and Peter Hooley.
 
NJIT (15-11) absorbed just its second loss of 2015 and saw a five-game winning streak halted Friday night. The Highlanders entered the UAlbany game having won 10 of their previous 11 and they lost at home for the first time since a 63-61 defeat on November 22 vs. UMass Lowell. NJIT is now 9-2 in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
The top two scorers for the Highlanders, with 15 points apiece, were Tim Coleman and Winfield Willis, while Damon Lynn added 12 in the game played in front of a standing room only crowd of 1,500.
 
As with the final score, most of the other statistics were close. UAlbany had a 34-32 advantage in total rebounds, with Rowley's 8 boards leading the Great Danes, while Coleman pulled down 8 rebounds to top NJIT.
 
The turnovers were also close, as NJIT committed 10 turnovers (tied for the second-lowest of the season by the Highlanders) and UAlbany had just 11 miscues.
 
Singletary's go-ahead fast-break layup broke a 54-54 tied with 4:19 left and after a miss on the NJIT end, Rowley a strong 6-foot-6 senior from Australia, powered his way through the lane for another layup for a 58-54 lead with 3:24 left.
 
The visitors made two-of-four free throws, with the second make, by Sanders, extending the lead to 60-54 with 2:29 showing on the clock.
 
But NJIT was not done, as Lynn, who leads the nation in 3-point baskets, made his 99th triple of the season and second of the game, trimming the deficit to 60-57 with 2:17 remaining.
 
Daquan Holiday would be fouled while grabbing two big rebounds, one on each end, in the closing 1:34 and he made two of his four free throws, the second closing the gap to 60-59 with 46.5 seconds left.
 
Albany got the ball into the front court and coach Will Brown called timeout with 36.1 seconds left. On the ensuing play, Singletary caught a pass on the right baseline and then drove into the NJIT defense and scored on a tough bank shot layup with 23.2 seconds left.
 
Even with a 3-point lead, the Great Danes weren't out of the woods after Ennema got a defensive rebound and was fouled with 13.1 seconds left. Ennema, who came in shooting 74 percent at the foul line for the season, missed both foul shots. But junior Peter Hooley essentially sealed the win by grabbing the offensive rebound on Ennema's second miss.
 
Hooley, another Australian who was Most Valuable Player of the 2014 America East Conference tournament, last played in a game on December 14. He had been on a leave of absence to be in Australia with his mother, who passed away on December 31 after a long bout with colon cancer.
 
Having had one practice since his return stateside, he finished with 10 points in the game, passing the 1,000-point mark for his career in the process.
 
After getting the big rebound off of Ennema's second miss, UAlbany got the ball to Sanders, who was fouled and missed his first free throw, but made the second, extending the lead to two possessions, 63-59, with 8.1 seconds left.
 
After another NJIT miss, Hooley put the cap on his triumphant return with two free throws that made the score 65-59 with 1.1 seconds remaining.
 
The Highlanders started the game well, going up 8-2 and they never trailed in a first half that ended with a 30-30 tie. NJIT's biggest lead of the night came early, 19-10, after  a Willis fast-break layup on a long pass out of the backcourt from Lynn, who would finish with a game-best 6 assists.
 
The 9-point Highlander advantage came at the 13:25 mark of the opening half. UAlbany answered with a pair of 3-pointers, but NJIT pushed the lead back to 27-18 after a Willis 3-pointer with 6:48 left.
 
However, the Highlanders would score just three more first-half points and the Great Danes drew even twice on 3-pointers in the last 4:29, the second by Sanders that made the score 30-30 with 55 seconds to go in the half.
 
Willis, who led all scorers in the first half with 10 points for NJIT, hit a 3-pointer for the team's first bucket of the second half and a 33-32 lead. But the visitors ran off seven straight points, five by Rowley who hit back-to-back layups, with the second also drawing a free throw for an old-school 3-point play that put UAlbany ahead 39-33 with 16:25 left.
  
Despite, forging the ties, though, NJIT never had the upper hand once Rowley gave his team the 39-33 lead, always seeming to be shooting for a tie, the last one at 54-54 on a Willis layup with 6:49 left.
 
The ensuing 6-0 spurt by the Great Danes from 4:19 to 2:29 proved to be the coup de grace.
 
The Highlanders, who are aiming for a strong finish with three games left on the regular season schedule, will get back into action Monday night at 7 pm, when they host Maine Fort Kent in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
  The Department of Athletics will be collecting donations Monday night for the American Heart Association. The donations will be given to the AHA in the name of the late Joe Caiola, the long-time Assistant Athletics Director and two-time graduate of NJIT who died unexpectedly on June 29, 2014 at the age of 57 while vacationing in Florida.