NEWARK, NJ—Emmanuel Tselentakis posted game-high totals in points (16) and rebounds (9), while also making five steals for NJIT in a 90-55 men's basketball win over visiting Sarah Lawrence on Senior Day Saturday afternoon in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Tselentakis was the leader in a game that saw seven of the eight Highlanders who played on Saturday reach double-figure scoring. The 16 points for Tselentakis were a career high for the junior, while the next-leading scorer for the Highlanders, Osa Ivezbuwa, also set a new career high with 15 points. Redshirt freshman Vlad Shustov's 10 points were the most in his brief career high, as well.
 
The other double-figure scorers for NJIT (17-11) were: seniors Daquan Holiday and Odera Nweke, with  12 points and 11 points, respectively, plus 11 apiece from sophomores Damon Lynn and Tim Coleman.
 
NJIT's 17 wins set a new program Division I record with one game still to play on the schedule. The previous high in the Division I era, which began in 2006-07, came when the 2012-13 Highlanders finished 16-13 en route to the regular season championship of the old Great West Conference.
 
Lynn, NJIT's star sophomore guard, added three 3-point field goals and six assists to his season total, giving him 109 3-pointers (most in the nation in Division I) and 110 assists. In addition to his national ranking from long distance, the 109 threes are a new school record, breaking his own mark of 107, set last season when he was a rookie. Lynn's 110 assists are a new program Division I record, topping Ky Howard's record of 105, also set last season.
 
Sarah Lawrence, which competes in NCAA Division III, completed its season with a record of 1-24. The visiting Gryphons shot a remarkable 13-for-25 (52 percent) on their 3-point attempts Saturday.
 
Sarah Lawrence's 13 3-pointers were the most by an NJIT opponent this season, topping the 12 made by Division I Duquesne on November 29. Indeed, only one of the previous 19 NJIT opponents had made more than nine threes in a game vs. the Highlanders, who were holding their opponents to 33.8 percent 3-point shooting for the season coming into Saturday's matchup.
 
On a team comprised entirely of freshmen and sophomores, first-year guard Logan Dubek did the most damage from downtown for the visitors, shooting 4-for-7 and finishing with a career-best 12 points, all of which came in the opening half. Dubek's team-leading six rebounds on Saturday were one shy of his career high in that department.
 
Sophomore Graham Gilleran, who made one 3-pointer, was the top scorer for SLC, finishing with 14 points. Ege Ozgan, also a sophomore and a native of Turkey, was the other double-figure scorer for the Gryphons, scoring 11 points, nine of which came on 3-for-4 shooting from downtown.
 
In an oddity, the Gryphons' 52 percent success rate on 3-pointers surpassed both their accuracy from inside the arc (29 percent; 5-for-17) and at the foul line (50 percent; 6-for-12).
 
As might be expected, NJIT, the Division I team, dominated the scoring in the paint, 56-4, and on second-chance points, 13-4. Sarah Lawrence also was unable to cope with the Highlanders in transition, as the home team held a 23-0 advantage on fast-break points.
 
NJIT made 20 steals—six by Lynn, five by Tselentakis, and four by Coleman—accounting for the bulk of Sarah Lawrence's 23 turnovers. The points-off-turnovers favored NJIT, 39-5.
 
Although the Highlanders won by 35 points, the score stayed close deep into the opening half. In fact, three 3-pointers—two by Dubek and one by Wyatt Rocheleau—helped stake Sarah Lawrence to a quick 11-4 lead in the opening 3:19.
NJIT, which had scored the first basket before falling into the seven-point deficit, did not reclaim the lead again until Ivezbuwa's jumper made it 12-11 wth 12:26 left in the opening period.
 
Even with that, Ozcan made a free throw to tie the score and Dubek struck again from downtown, putting the Gryphons on top, 15-12, at the 11:07 mark.
 
The Highlanders answered with a 9-0 spurt and took the lead permanently in the process. But Sarah Lawrence still had life and a jump shot from inside the foul circle by Gilleran 35 seconds after another Dubek triple pulled the visitors back within a point at 24-23 with 5:15 showing on the clock.
 
However, Gilleran's bucket would be the end of the first-half scoring for SLC and NJIT finished off the final 4:49 on a 16-0 run and the teams headed to their locker rooms with the Highlanders ahead, 40-23.
 
Coleman's 11 points at the break topped the Highlanders, while Dubek led all scorers in the half with 12 points.
 
After closing the first half on a 16-0 run, the Highlanders scored the first 10 points of the second half before freshman Glenn Forstner's 3-pointer broke the second-half ice for Sarah Lawrence with 18:29 left.
 
Ahead by 27 points 76 seconds into the final half, NJIT eventually claimed its biggest lead of the day, 86-48, with 2:25 remaining.
 
The Highlanders, who had a 12-day gap between hosting Maine Fort Kent on February 16 and Sarah Lawrence on Saturday, will close out the regular season on Wednesday, March 4 at 8 pm vs. Howard.
 
That game, which had been scheduled as a home game for Howard in Washington, DC, instead with be played at NJIT in the Fleisher Athletic Center on Wednesday.