NJIT vs UT Arlington CIT quarterfinal highlights

NJIT Post-game interview

NJIT vs. UT Arlington CIT quarterfinal photo gallery



NEWARK, NJ-Down for the last 16:53 of the first half and by as many as 11 points, NJIT rallied in the second half for a 63-60 victory Thursday night over visiting UT Arlington in the quarterfinal round of the 2016 CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

NJIT (20-14) advances to the CIT semifinals for a second consecutive season. The Highlanders will visit Columbia (23-10) on Sunday at 6 pm in a game that will be televised by the CBS Sports Network cable channel.

UC Irvine (27-9) will play at Coastal Carolina (21-11) in the other semifinal at 9 pm Sunday, also on the CBS Sports Network.

With Thursday's loss to the Highlanders, UT Arlington completes its 2015-16 season with a 24-11 record.

No one in the game scored more than 14 points, a total reached by NJIT senior Ky Howard and UT Arlington junior Drew Charles. Howard got three of his points on crucial free throws in the final 20 seconds of the game.

Howard's 3-pointer with 5:48 remaining gave NJIT a lead it would never relinquish at 53-51. And the Highlanders eventually stretched their advantage to 58-51 after Tim Coleman's driving layup with 3:04 left.

But UT Arlington, still trailing by 7 with 1:35 left, fought back and closed the deficit to 60-58 after Charles made a layup with 41 seconds on the clock.

Howard, possibly playing his last career game in the Fleisher Athletic Center, made the second of two free throws to put NJIT ahead by 3 with 20 seconds left.

Jalen Jones answered with a layup for the visitors, trimming NJIT's lead to one with eight seconds left. Howard, fouled on the inbounds play, made two free throws with 7.3 seconds left to push the Highlander lead to 63-60 before the Mavericks missed on a forced 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Defense told much of the story for both teams, as UT Arlington held the Highlanders to 40 percent shooting from the floor and NJIT held the visitors to 37 percent shooting.

However, NJIT shot 52 percent (14-for-27) in the come-from-behind second half after shooting just 29 percent (8-for-28) in the opening half. The Highlanders were strong from 3-point distance throughout, making 11 of 25 on the night. In fact, they were 6-for-15 from distance in the first half against just 2-for-13 from inside the arc.

In addition to Howard's 14 points, the Highlanders got 12 points from Coleman, who also had a team-leading 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. NJIT also got 11 points from Damon Lynn and 10 points off the bench from Rob Ukawuba. Senior Emmanuel Tselentakis had a career-high 6 assists without a turnover for the Highlanders.

The only Maverick with double-figures in points aside from Charles, was Jalen Jones, who scored 12 points to go with a game-high 10 rebounds.

UT Arlington, one of the top rebounding teams in the country, is first nationally in total rebounds and rebounds per game. The Mavericks outrebounded NJIT, 45-31, Thursday night and had a 14-5 advantage in second-chance points.

The Mavericks, who came into the game holding their opponents under 40 percent shooting for the season, stifled the Highlanders early and built a 13-2 lead after Jones made a layup with 11:31 left in the first half.

NJIT got back in contention gradually, but still trailed 30-20 with 2:35 left in the opening half. However, Howard and Chris Jenkins made back-to-back 3-pointers in the remaining time, as NJIT cut the halftime deficit to 30-26.

The momentum turned in NJIT's direction when the Highlanders surged, 12-4, in the first 3:04 out of the locker room.

There would be later tie scores at the 8:32 mark and the 7:13 mark and the Mavericks took a brief 51-50 lead after Mariega Clarke made the first of two foul shots with 6:41 remaining. Howard's three for the Highlanders came 53 seconds later, triggering an 8-0 run that put NJIT ahead for good.

Sunday night's CIT semifinal will be the second game this season between NJIT and Columbia. The Highlanders and Lions played earlier this season on December 12 in New York City and Columbia came out on top, 65-56.

Last season, NJIT lost at Northern Arizona in the 2015 CIT semifinal to finish the year with a program-best 21-12 record.