NEWARK, NJ—NJIT men's basketball never trailed Tuesday night in winning for the second time in two days and for the ninth time in the last 10 games, a 69-51 defeat of visiting Delaware State in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
The Highlanders' 9-1 record since December 30 represents the best 10-game segment for the NJIT program since it began Division I competition with the 2006-07 season. The last time an NJIT men's team won nine out of 10 was between January 8 and February 2, 2002, when the program played at the NCAA Division II level.
 
Tuesday night's win, which marked the lowest points allowed in a game this season by the Highlanders, who upped their overall season record to 14-10. NJIT never trailed and the Highlanders led for 38:07 of the 40-minute game.
 
The loss dropped Delaware State to 10-13 with three consecutive losses.  
 
NJIT, which topped Hampton, 86-67, on Monday night, Tuesday got a game-high 20 points from junior guard Winfield Willis, with sophomores Damon Lynn and Tim Coleman each contributing 17 points. Lynn had a game-high 7 assists, one short of his career high, and Coleman was NJIT's top individual rebounder with nine. Redshirt freshman center Vlad Shustov added a career-best 8 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field.
 
Amere May, who came in as Delaware State's leading scorer at 18.1 points per game, just about reached his average with a team-best 18 points against the Highlanders. Fellow senior Tyshaun Bell was the only other double-figure scorer for the Hornets with 10 points.
 
Senior center Kendall Gray, who came in leading the nation with 13 rebounds per game, grabbed 10 against the Highlanders. He also led DSU with 4 assists and had all three of the team's blocked shots.
 
However, despite the presence of the 6-foot-10 Gray in the middle and a bigger lineup all-around for Delaware State, NJIT outrebounded the visitors 40-35 and outscored the Hornets in the paint, 28-16, and on second-chance points, 12-7.
 
Delaware State's 51 points supplanted the previous NJIT opponents' season-low of 55 points, which happened three times previously (at UMBC, at Maine, and at South Alabama).
 
Not coincidentally, the three 55-point games all were wins for the Highlanders and all have come in the current 10-game hot streak. Two of the 55-point games came consecutively (January 19 and January 25) and, with the win over Delaware State, comprise three of NJIT's last four contests.
 
In holding the Hornets to 32 percent accuracy from the field (19-for-59), the Highlanders lowered their season field goal percentage defense under 40 percent to 39.9 percent. Only 65 of the nation's 351 Division I teams had field goal percentage defenses under 40 percent for games played through Monday.
 
NJIT continued to thrive on sharing the ball, as evidenced by the Highlanders' 21 assists on 26 baskets. They also had an excellent assists-to-turnovers ratio, with 21 assists, tied for the their third-highest single game total of the season, and 11 turnovers, their third lowest total of the season in that category.
 
The season-high for assists was 24, done in Monday's win over Hampton, and the low for turnovers in a game is 9, done two games ago at South Alabama.
NJIT overcame a slow scoring start to finish Tuesday's win with 69 points. A day after making 13-of-22 3-point tries in Monday's win over Hampton, the Highlanders misfired on their first nine 3-point attempts against Delaware State, with Willis breaking the ice at the 10:53 mark of the opening half, giving NJIT an 11-8 lead more than nine minutes into the game.
 
Delaware State, which has shown itself to be a quality road team with six away victories, including one at in-state rival Delaware and one at Wake Forest of the vaunted Atlantic Coast Conference, had its own early shooting woes, but kept the game close against NJIT for much of the first half.
 
DeAndre Haywood, who moments earlier made a steal to create a fast-break layup for the Hornets, produced a conventional 3-point play, pulling DSU to within four points of the lead, 26-22, with 4:05 left in the opening half. But NJIT responded with a 12-2 run the rest of the way to halftime, sparked by a Lynn 3-pointer with an assist from Shustov at the 3:42 mark.
 
Coleman followed with five straight NJIT points before May's jumper broke the run. But Shustov scored on a layup, assisted by Lynn, and Coleman scored on a tip-in with five seconds left in the opening half.
 
Lynn led all scorers at the half with 13 points, followed by 10 for Willis and May's eight points topped Delaware State.
Leading at the break, 38-24, NJIT scored first in the second half on a Daquan Holiday layup and the Highlanders up by at least 14 the rest of the way. The biggest lead of 28 points came when Coleman drained a 3-pointer for the Highlanders, putting them ahead 67-39 with 4:20 left.
 
NJIT returns to action on Saturday at 4 pm against Fisher, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics program from Boston. The Falcons, who lost to the Highlanders in each of the previous two seasons, are having a terrific season in their own right, forging an 18-5 record. They have won seven of their last eight, with a home game scheduled for Wednesday night.
 
The late afternoon game vs. Fisher is part of a busy Saturday on Fleisher Family Court. It is Alumni Day, with the annual Alumni Game scheduled to follow the Highlanders' 4 pm game vs. Fisher The NJIT women's basketball team will begin the day by hosting St. Joseph's of Vermont in a 2 pm start and the Highlander men will take on Fisher after, with the scheduled 4 pm tipoff.