NJIT Men's Basketball Gameday Information NEWARK, NJ—NJIT will take another shot at its 16th win, which would match the highest total in a season since the Highlanders began Division I competition in 2006-07 (NJIT finished 16-13 in 2012-13). The opponent is the University of Maine at Fort Kent, which will come in from northern Maine for a 7 pm game against the Highlanders Monday night in the in NJIT's Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
The Highlanders came up just short of win #16 in the their first try over the past weekend on Friday night, falling at home to UAlbany, 65-59 in a game where the teams were one score apart with 8.1 seconds left. The result extended UAlbany's winning streak to 13 games and it was just NJIIT's second defeat since December 28, covering 12 games.
In conjunction with the game Monday night, the Department of Athletics will be collecting donations to the American Heart Association. The donations will be given to the AHA in the name of the late Joe Caiola, who was stricken unexpectedly and died on June 29, 2014.
Joe earned two degrees from NJIT (BS, 1980; MS, 1984) and was a two-year member of the NJIT basketball team during his undergraduate years, scoring 40 points in his last college game. He returned to NJIT as a full-time employee in 1997 and held the title of Assistant Athletics Director for Business, Facilities and Event Management and he was the department's longest-tenured administrator at the time of his passing.
Immediately following Joe's death, his family requested that donations be made in his name to the American Heart Association. On the court, the Highlanders will play against UMFK before a 12-day gap in the schedule, with no contests again until February 28.
The Bengals from UMFK belong the United States Collegiate Athletic Association, a group of small colleges that includes some members who hold dual membership in NCAA Division III or the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The USCAA numbers programs from four campuses of the University of Maine, including UMFK, and also includes 13 branch campuses of Penn State University in its membership.
Fort Kent is at the top of Maine and is site of the northern terminus of US Route 1 (the southern terminus is in Key West, FL).
UMFK and NJIT have one common opponent, Fisher College of Boston, which beat the Bengals in two close December games (68-64 and 85-80). NJIT topped Fisher, 96-70, on February 7.
Maine Fort Kent 9-11 in its first season under head coach
Tom Bird, a Maine native who spent two years with successful NCAA Division I programs before taking over the Bengals. He was assistant video coordinator at Florida in 2012-13 and Director of Basketball Operations at North Dakota State in 2013-14. Florida, of course, is a national power and North Dakota State was 26-7, including a win over Oklahoma in the opening round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
UMFK (9-11) team stats and leaders:Scoring (team 71.0 ppg, -0.3 ppg):
Joe McCloskey (6-7, So.; 20.8 ppg);
Qaadir Ali (6-2, Jr; 12 ppg);
Mauro Vicic (6-4, Jr; 10.7 ppg).
Rebounding (team 34.9 rpg,-4.7 rpg):
McCloskey (8.4 rpg);
Marquis Glenn (6-4, Jr; 6.5 rpg)
Assists: Ali (89)
Blocks: McCloskey (32)
Steals:
Glenn (34)
UMFK's roster is a bit unusual for a small-college program in that it is laden with players from Europe (4), and China (1), as well as neighboring Canada (1), as well as Americans from the opposite coast in California (5).
There are two Maine products on the UMFK and one of them is 6-foot-7, 220-pound sophomore
Joe McCloskey, who is the team's best player, leading in scoring (20.8 ppg) and rebounding 8.4 rpg). … McCloskey was a high school star in Maine, averaging 23.5 points and 11.7 rebounds before graduating in 2011. He entered college that year and was named 2012 Maine Men's Basketball Coaches and Writers Association Rookie of the Year playing for Maine-Farmington. He was out of college basketball for two years before enrolling last fall at UMFK, where his father is in the school's Hall of Fame. … The new Bengal has scored as many as 36 points in a game. ,,, UMFK's second-leading scorer (
Qaadir Ali) and second-leading rebounder (
Marquis Glenn) are both junior transfers who played in two-year programs in California.
As he has since the day he first played for NJIT in November 2013,
Damon Lynn is the primary game-to-game offensive threat, scoring a team-leading 17.3 ppg, which include a best-in-the nation 99 3-point field goals. He also tops the Highlanders in assists (99) and steals (43).
Lynn is within striking distance of two program Division I season records. With totals of 99 in both 3-pointers and assists, he is closing in on his own program record of 107 3-pointers, set last year, and
Ky Howard's record 105 assists, also set last year.
Second among the active Highlanders is junior guard
Winfield Willis (11.7 ppg) and sophomore
Tim Coleman stands at 11.1 ppg. Coleman's 4.7 rebounds per game lead the active Highlanders.
Matt Provence will provide play-by-play on the here on
www.njjthighlanders.com. Programming is scheduled to begin at least 15 minutes before tipoff.
