Game Highlights (Video)
Engles, Coleman Postgame Comments (Video)
NEWARK, NJ—NJIT continued to take care of business with a 78-59 win over visiting Kennesaw State in Atlantic Sun Conference men's basketball in the Fleisher Athletic Center late Saturday afternoon.
The Highlanders, who have their first 3-game winning streak in the A-Sun, are now 5-4 in conference play after losing their first two Atlantic Sun games back in January.
NJIT, which got 19 points from
Damon Lynn; 17 points and 10 rebounds from
Tim Coleman; 14 points from
Ky Howard; and, 12 off the bench from
Chris Jenkins, is 14-11 overall after topping Kennesaw State for the second time in a week.
Kennesaw State (7-18; 3-6 A-Sun) was headed by senior Yonel Brown's 19 points and 12 points, plus a team-leading 7 rebounds, from redshirt junior Kendrick Ray.
NJIT's Lynn scored all 19 of his points in the opening half, with nearly half of them coming at the foul line, where he made all 9 of his attempts. The junior attempted only three shots from the floor in the second half and did not go to the line in his 17 minutes of second-half action.
However, Lynn's scoring prowess was not necessary for the Highlanders in the second half, as Howard and Coleman each scored 10 after halftime.
Coleman also collected 8 of his game-high 10 rebounds in the second half en route to his fifth double-double of the season. The junior, who has had two double-doubles in conference play, has reached double-figure scoring in each of the last 14 games, which includes all nine A-Sun games played by the Highlanders. The do-it-all forward added 4 assists and 3 steals to his Saturday double-double.
Jenkins, who continues to provide instant offense as a reserve for NJIT, scored all 12 of his points Saturday on 4-for-6 3-point shooting. The redshirt sophomore has reached double-figure scoring in three straight games and is shooting 16-for-31 from downtown over the last four games.
A statistical oddity went out the window 14 seconds into Saturday's game. Until that time, NJIT had never trailed, even by a point or even for a second, in any of its first four Atlantic Sun Conference victories. The streak ended when KSU's Brown hit a jump shot to put the Owls ahead 2-0 with 19:46 left in the first half.
The Highlanders took their first lead of the game. 5-4, on a Lynn 3-point basket. But the visitors, led by 9 early points from Brown, went up 13-8 after his layup with 14:47 remaining in the first period.
The contest stayed close, but NJIT used a 7-0 run to go up 18-14 after Howard's driving layup with 11:09 on the clock.
The Highlanders, who never trailed after that, built a 7-point lead on three occasions later in the opening half, the latest at 39-32 on a Coleman layup with 41 seconds remaining.
The half ended with NJIT leading 41-35, as Lynn had 19 first-half points for the home team and Brown had 12 for Kennesaw State.
The Highlanders scored the first six points of the second half and they were never seriously threatened at any time over the final 20 minutes. They enjoyed a 37-24 advantage to stretch their six-point halftime lead.
Ahead by 10 points 2:24 into the second half, NJIT led by 15 with 12:04 left and by 22 when
Rob Ukawuba drained a 3-pointer to make it 71-49 with 6:19 remaining.
The biggest lead of the night for the Highlanders was 25 points, which they reached at 75-50 after Ukawuba's layup with 4:22 remaining.
NJIT still led by 25 at the 2:31 mark, but Kennesaw State used a 7-1 closing run to trim the deficit to the final score of 78-59.
Saturday's victory gives NJIT a sweep of the two-game regular season series against Kennesaw State. Those wins were sandwiched around a road victory at Lipscomb, which left the Highlanders-Bisons regular season series at 1-1.
Next up for the Highlanders is a home game on Thursday at 7 pm against Stetson in the Fleisher Athletic Center. NJIT topped Stetson, 71-59, when the teams met in Florida on January 16.
