Game Highlights (Video)

Engles, Lynn Postgame Comments (Video)


NEWARK, NJ—NJIT, which trailed by 14 points before the game was four minutes old and didn't take its first lead until 2:04 remained in the contest, pulled out a 74-70 Atlantic Sun Conference men's basketball victory over upset-minded Stetson, as Damon Lynn scored 30 points for the Highlanders, who extended their season-best winning streak to four games in a row Thursday night in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
With Thursday's come-from-behind thriller, NJIT raised its A-Sun record to 6-4 and its overall record to 15-11. Combined with results elsewhere in the conference Thursday night, the Highlanders are now just one game out of first place in the Atlantic Sun standings with four regular season games remaining.
 
Co-leaders North Florida, the defending champion, and Jacksonville both lost Thursday to fall to 7-3 in the A-Sun. And Florida Gulf Coast won to keep pace with NJIT at 6-4. The Highlanders and FGCU will go head-to-head on Saturday at 4 pm in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Lynn's 30 points vs. Stetson were his highest total in an Atlantic Sun game and second overall this season only to the 32 in scored in NJIT's December 20 win at St. John's. Lynn has four career 30-point games.
 
After Lynn, the Highlanders got 20 points from Ky Howard, who also filled the box score with 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals.
 
Forward Terrence Smith, in action for the first time since January 24 after missing the last four games due to injury, came off the NJIT bench for 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting.
 
Stetson, which lost twice to the Highlanders this season, drops to 3-7 in the Atlantic Sun and 9-17 overall.
 
Sophomore Grant Lozoya paced Stetson with 16 points, followed by 15 points for junior Brian Pegg. The Hatters also got 11 points apiece from Divine Myles and Cameron Harvey.
 
Pegg, the leading rebounder in the A-Sun, topped the list Thursday with 7 rebounds. Tim Coleman, limited to just 17 minutes' action by foul trouble, led NJIT on the boards with 6 rebounds.
 
NJIT, which never trailed when it beat Stetson 71-59 in DeLand, FL, on January 16, got in trouble early in Thursday's rematch. The Hatters hit the 20-point mark less than six minutes into the game, going ahead of the Highlanders, 20-6, after freshman Leo Goodman's 3-pointer with 14:14 remaining in the first half.
 
In building what would be their biggest lead of the night, the Hatters blitzed NJIT with 8 made field goals in their first 11 attempts. Stetson also made both of its free throws in the sizzling start.
 
The 20-6 deficit was the low-water point for the Highlanders. But Stetson, the first A-Sun team this season to defeat North Florida after UNF opened conference play with a 7-0 record, had the answer nearly all night to keep the lead against NJIT.
 
A Lynn jump shot with 5:19 remaining in the first half pulled the Highlanders to within 23-21. But Stetson answered with seven straight points in 52 seconds to surge back up 31-23.
 
NJIT's Lynn, who had been quiet early, added six points in the last 1:20 of the half, but Stetson scored five over the final 1:52 to hold a 37-32 advantage after a half.
 
High scorers at the break were Lynn with 11 for the Highlanders and Luke Doyle with 9 coming off the Stetson bench.
 
The teams traded scores to open the second half, but Pegg's two free throws with 17:26 remaining increased the Hatter lead to double-digits, 45-35. And less than two minutes later, his layup gave the visitors what would be their biggest advantage of the half, 50-38, with 15:34 on the clock.
 
Another basket by Pegg, this one a jump shot with 12:29 left, provided the Hatters with a 54-44 lead.
 
NJIT then used an 8-2 run, with Howard scoring 5 of the points, to close the gap to 56-52 with 11:18 remaining after a Howard layup off a pass from Lynn.
 
As it had so many times earlier, Stetson dug down and answered the threat, going back ahead 64-54 after Myles made the first of two free throws with 7:36 to play.
 
The Hatters still held a decent lead, 67-59, after two Lozoya foul shots with the game clock down to 5:05.
 
Smith scored for NJIT on the next possession and then Stetson turned the ball over two trips in a row, opening the door for the Highlanders, who got quick layups, first from Rob Ukawuba and then from Howard.
 
Ukawuba's layup with 2:42 tied the score at 67-67 and Lynn made the first of two foul shots for NJIT's first lead, 68-67, with 2:04 remaining.
 
The dagger came with the shot clock running down and 21 seconds on the game clock, as Lynn fired in a long 3-pointer, his sixth of the night, from beyond NBA distance and just in front of the scorers' table, giving NJIT a 71-67 advantage.
 
Stetson's Lozoya answered on the ensuing possession with a deep three of his own, this one from well beyond the arc and straight on that pulled the visitors back within a point, 71-70, with 9 seconds left.
 
Amidst the bedlam, Stetson, which had already exhausted its allotment of timeouts, called one it didn't have immediately after the Lozoya 3-pointer.
 
Lynn made the one-shot technical foul for the Highlanders and Howard, fouled a second later on the inbounds play, hit two free throws to put the score beyond Stetson's reach.
 
After trailing by 8 with 5:05 left, NJIT finished the game with a 15-3 run that included 5-for-6 from the floor and 3-for-4 at the foul line on the offensive end, while holding Stetson to 1-for-5 shooting from the floor and four turnovers, two of which came on steals by Howard.
 
Saturday's 4 pm game in the Fleisher Athletic Center against Florida Gulf Coast is the last regular season home game for the Highlander men, who lost the first meeting with FGCU in Fort Myers, 82-78, in overtime on January 14.
 
The Highlanders trailed that one by 21 points in the first half before rallying to force overtime on two Lynn free throws with less than a second left in regulation.
 
In losing at FGCU, NJIT began its inaugural A-Season with an 0-2 record, but the Highlanders have fought back into the race by winning six of their next eight conference games.