NJIT Game Notes (PDF)


NEWARK, NJ -- The Highlanders (3-4) will return home from a three-game road trip to host the Saint Francis (PA) Red Flash (3-2) on Wednesday night at Fleisher Athletic Center. Opening tip is slated for 7 p.m.
 
NJIT battled for 40 minutes, but fell 79-68 at No. 17 Purdue on Saturday while the Red Flash have now won three in a row after picking up a 69-62 win over American on Saturday.
 
The game will be shown live on ESPN3 (all remaining NJIT home basketball games can be seen on ESPN3).
 
A simple way to find ESPN3 is on NJIT's official athletics website, www.njithighlanders.com. Near the middle of the home page NJIT TV section, click Upcoming Events for a list of scheduled NJIT contests. After finding the event, click the camera icon to the right of the event listing. That brings you to an ESPN3 portal where you can access the desired program.
 
Matt Provence, the voice of the Highlanders, is on play-by-play with expert analysis from Rob Kennedy.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
 
Wednesday marks the fourth all-time meeting between the Highlanders and Red Flash with the Highlanders having won each of the first three meetings. In fact, all three meetings have been decided by eight points or more.
 
Last season, NJIT trailed by seven at the half before outscoring Saint Francis 42-23 in the final 20 minutes en route to a 77-65 win at DeGol Arena in Loretto.
 
Senior guard Rob Ukawuba paced the Highlanders with 17 points while fellow seniors Tim Coleman and Damon Lynn finished with 16 and 12 points, respectively.

Greg Brown led Saint Francis with 18 points and senior guard Malik Harmon added 14 of his own.
 
Harmon was expected to play a key role for this year's squad, but will miss the season due to a torn labrum.
 
The Highlanders are 12-11 all-time against Northeast Conference foes after going 2-0 in 2015-16 with wins over Saint Francis (PA) and St. Francis Brooklyn.
 
FLASHING LIGHTS
 
The Red Flash raced out to a 17-point halftime lead before holding on for the 69-62 win over American on Saturday.
 
Sophomore guard Jamaal King had 20 points to lead Saint Francis while sophomore forward Josh Nebo and freshman guard Keith Braxton contributed 15 and 14 points in the win.
 
This season, the Red Flash are averaging 86.4 ppg and are shooting 45.5% (51-of-112) from beyond the arc. Nebo is one of four players averaging double figures at 14.0 ppg and he is joined by King (13.6 ppg), Braxton (12.6 ppg) and senior guard Georgios Angelou (10.0 ppg).
 
Saint Francis was picked to finish ninth in the NEC preseason poll after losing their top three scorers from a year ago.
 
Head coach Rob Krimmel is in his fifth season at the helm of his alma mater and led the Red Flash to a CIT berth in 2014-15. The opening round CIT game against Bowling Green marked the first time that the school had hosted a postseason contest since 1991.
 
During his playing career, Krimmel was a two-time captain for the Red Flash and ranks fifth all-time in school history with a 39.8% shooting percentage from three-point range.
 
King and freshman guard Randall Gaskins Jr. were teammates with Maryland star Melo Trimble at Bishop O'Connell High School (VA).
 
The roster has an international flavor to it with players hailing from Greece (Angelou), Lithuania (freshman forward Deivydas Kuzavas) and Nigeria (sophomore forward Ifeanyi Umezurike).
 
NJIT OUTLOOK
 
NJIT trailed by just three points at halftime and hung in throughout the game in the 79-68 loss to No. 17 Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette.
 
Lynn had a game-high 33 points to lead the way offensively for the Highlanders while junior guard Chris Jenkins hit 4-of-6 from beyond the arc to finish with 12 points. Freshman Anthony Tarke continued to provide strong minutes off the bench with seven points and four rebounds.
 
Lynn hit eight three-pointers of his own in the contest and now ranks in the top 20 all-time in career three-pointers made in NCAA Division I history with 382. The all-time leader is Oakland's Travis Bader with 504 treys in his career.
 
As a team, NJIT hit 13-of-28 (46.4%) from beyond the arc against Purdue.
 
The Highlanders forced 16 Boilermaker turnovers on the afternoon and are averaging 8.1 thefts per game this season, led by 2.7 spg from Lynn.


Write-up courtesy of Joe Fitzhenry