Game Notes (PDF)


NEWARK, NJ -- The Highlanders (7-8) will close out non-conference play with a home tilt against Brown (9-6) on Wednesday night at Fleisher Athletic Center. Opening tip is slated for 7 p.m. 

Both teams battled Stony Brook in their previous game, as NJIT topped the Seawolves 64-61 last Wednesday while Brown dropped a 92-89 decision in overtime on Saturday. 

NJIT is 4-0 at home this season and has won seven in a row at home dating back to the start of the 2016 CIT. 

With a victory tonight, NJIT will have its first three-game winning streak of the season and since the first three rounds of the 2016 CIT (Army, Boston University, UT Arlington). The Highlanders would also finish their non-conference schedule at 8-8 -- which would mark the program's second-best start all-time through 16 games of a season (9-7 in 2015-16).

The game can be seen live on ESPN3 (all remaining NJIT 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 Dave Calloway. 

ALL-TIME SERIES

Wednesday marks the first ever meeting between the Highlanders and Bears. 

NJIT is 1-15 all-time against Ivy League foes with the lone win coming against Yale on Jan. 9, 2015 in Newark. Last season, the Highlanders went 0-3 against the Ivy with two losses to Columbia (including the semifinals of the 2016 CIT) and one to Yale.

Former NJIT assistant coach Jesse Agel (2013-16) was the head coach at Brown for four years from 2008-12.  

BEAR TRAP

In the 92-89 loss to Stony Brook on Saturday, senior guard Tavon Blackmon led five players in double figures with 19 points while freshman guard Brandon Anderson added a career-high 18 points. 

Brown ranks tops in the Ivy League at 78.1 ppg and shoots at a 45.7% clip from the field, which ranks second. Senior guard JR Hobbie leads the league in three point percentage at 52.9%. 

Senior forward Steven Spieth shoots 50.4% from the field and leads the team in scoring at 15.3 ppg. He is joined in double figures by Blackmon at 10.9 ppg. 

As a team, the Bears have seven players averaging at least 7.7 points per game. 

Head coach Mike Martin is in his fifth season at the helm of his alma mater and has posted a 58-74 record during that stretch. In 2014-15, his team posted a 15-14 mark and Brown hosted their first ever postseason game. 

During his playing days, Martin was a four-year starter for the Bears and a member of the winningest class in Brown basketball history with a 63-45 career record. He went on to play one season of professional basketball in Ireland before serving as an assistant at both Brown and Penn. 

Spieth's older brother, Jordan, is a professional golfer and was the 2015 Masters and US Open Champion along with being named the PGA Tour Player of the Year. 

Freshman forward Joshua Howard's father, Juwan, was a member of the Fab Five at Michigan and went on to average 13.4 ppg over a 19 season NBA career with eight different teams. The elder Howard currently serves as an assistant coach with the Miami Heat. 

Sophomore guard Chris Sullivan's older brothers, Peter ('11) and Matthew ('13), both played basketball at Brown and scored over 1,000 points in their careers. 

Associate head coach T.J. Sorrentine played a key role in Vermont's upset of Syracuse in the 2005 NCAA Tournament with 17 points including a three-pointer that gave the Catamounts a four point lead with just over a minute left. 


NJIT OUTLOOK

The Highlanders led for most of the game and held on for a 64-61 win over Stony Brook last Wednesday as Stony Brook's Lucas Woodhouse missed a potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer. 

Senior guard Damon Lynn hit 10-of-13 from the charity stripe en route to a game-high 26 points for NJIT while senior forward Tim Coleman added 20 points and sophomore center Abdul Lewis chipped in with 10 points and 11 rebounds. 

Coleman scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half and hit a career-high four three-pointers in the contest. 

On the strength of his double-double, Lewis was named the Atlantic Sun Newcomer of the Week on Monday and became the second Highlander all-time to earn the award joining junior guard Chris Jenkins (Dec. 21, 2015). 

With two three-pointers Wednesday, Lynn will move into sole possession of seventh place all-time for career three-pointers in NCAA Division-I history. Against Stony Brook, he drained two triples to pass Steph Curry (414) and move into eighth place all-time. The Hillside, N.J., native ranks third in the ASUN in scoring this season at 22.4 ppg, which also lists 12th in the nation.

Write-up courtesy of Joe Fitzhenry.