Game Highlights (Video)


JACKSONVILLE, FL—The NJIT men's basketball team proved its resilience Saturday night, knocking Jacksonville out of a two-way tie for first place in the Atlantic Sun Conference standings with a wire-to-wire 73-58 victory in JU's Swisher Gymnasium.

Saturday's win for NJIT came just 48 hours after the Highlanders sustained what could have been a devastating loss on Thursday night across town in Jacksonville at the University of North Florida.

NJIT headed into the weekend in a three-way tie for first in the A-Sun along with UNF and JU, but the defending champion Ospreys crushed the Highlanders Thursday, while Jacksonville kept pace with a win over USC Upstate.

In going to play Jacksonville, NJIT had little time to regroup from the crucial loss at North Florida and the Highlanders were challenging a Jacksonville team that had won 13 consecutive games on its home floor going back to the last game of last season and continuing with a 12-0 home record this season.

On Saturday night, NJIT put to rest all the questions that had been raised about its ability to cope with the disappointment suffered at North Florida
For the second time this season, the Highlanders (17-12; 8-5 A-Sun) led Jacksonville wire-to-wire, finishing with an important victory.

With the win, NJIT (17-12, 8-5) pulled into a three-way tie for second place in the Atlantic Sun with the JU Dolphins (16-14, 8-5) and Florida Gulf Coast (17-12, 8-5) -- one game behind conference-leading North Florida (20-10, 9-4), which escaped with a close win over Upstate.

Because North Florida beat NJIT twice and there is only one game left on the regular season schedule, North Florida is guaranteed a higher seed in the A-Sun Tournament, even if the teams finish with the same conference record. The Highlanders, who will visit USC Upstate in Thursday's regular season finale, remain in contention for the #2 postseason seed.

Freshman Mohamed Bendary (14 points) led a balanced scoring attack for the Highlanders, who featured seven scorers with at least eight points. Tim Coleman (12 points) recorded game-highs in both rebounds (8) and assists (6), while junior Osa Izevbuwa recorded a season-high eight points.

NJIT shot 52.9-percent from the floor (27-for-51) while holding Jacksonville to just 35.8-percent (19-for-53) and 19.0-percent (4-for-21) from beyond the perimeter.

Jacksonville's scoring leader was junior JR Holder, who finished with a game-high 22 points. Senior Kori Babineaux, who started play with a team-high 18.9 scoring average -- and a 23.2 points-per-game mark over his last five contests, was held to just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting.

NJIT, which had won five in a row before its lopsided loss at North Florida, wasted little time in hitting the reset button, jumping to an 11-2 lead at Jacksonville after Bendary's layup 4:30 into the contest.

The early surge continued apace and the Highlander lead ballooned to 22-5 when Bendary followed a layup with free throw for a traditional 3-point play with 12:23 left in the first half.

NJIT's advantage stayed comfortably in double-figures the rest of the half, even though JU scored four points in the last 9 seconds to close the halftime gap to 42-30.

Vlad Shustov's 8 first-half points topped the Highlanders, who had six men with at least 5 points each at the break. Holder's 17 points were high for Jacksonville.

Up by 12 after a half, NJIT scored the first four points of the second half and later grew its advantage to a high of 60-36 when Chris Jenkins hit a 3-pointer near the midpoint of the half.

The Highlanders led by 22 points, 68-46, after Bendary's layup with 3:57 on the clock, but the Dolphins rallied and got to within 12 points of the lead after Holder's jump shot with 35 seconds left, but Damon Lynn answered with a free throw, a steal, and a layup to close out the 73-58 victory for the Highlanders.

Winners in six of their last seven games, the Highlanders will close the regular season in Spartanburg, SC, on Thursday at 7 pm vs. USC Upstate.
Aside from all the implications in the conference standings, there will be a revenge factor at work for NJIT, which is in its first season as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The Highlanders played their debut conference game in Newark vs. USC Upstate back on January 9. In that one, the visiting Spartans used a tip-in with 4/10 of a second remaining in regulation to pull out an 80-78 win.

Only conference-leading North Florida has swept the home-and-home regular season series from NJIT so far.

The Highlanders lost the first legs vs. Florida Gulf Coast and Lipscomb, but won the rematches to earn the split. And NJIT swept Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, and Stetson.