NJIT GAME NOTES (PDF)


NEWARK, NJ – The NJIT Highlanders (9-10, 2-2 ASUN) look for their second straight win when they host the Jacksonville Dolphins (9-12, 3-1 ASUN) in a Saturday afternoon at the Wellness and Events Center (WEC) in Newark. Opening tip is set for 4 p.m.
 
NJIT is coming off a 91-59 toppling of North Florida on Thursday, while the Dolphins suffered their first ASUN defeat with a 91-85 loss at USC Upstate.
 
The Highlanders have won three straight and nine of 11 at the WEC.
 
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, http://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
 
The all-time series is tied at two apiece after Jacksonville swept the season series a year ago.
 
Both games were decided by one point as the Dolphins recorded an 82-81 victory in Newark on Jan. 12, 2017 and a 76-73 win in Jacksonville on Feb. 11, 2017.
 
In the 76-73 Jacksonville victory a year ago, Andris Misters sank a three-pointer with seven seconds left to give the Dolphins the lead for good.
 
Tim Coleman had given NJIT a 73-71 lead with 0:29 to play before Darian Fernandez hit a pair of free throws on the other end to tie the game.
 
Coleman hit 9-of-14 from the field to pace NJIT with a game-high 23 points, while sophomore forward Anthony Tarke chipped in with 19 and junior forward Abdul Lewis added 11 points and seven rebounds.
 
J.R. Holder led the way offensively for Jacksonville with 20 points, Misters tallied 17 and Marcel White chipped in with 11. Sophomore guard Tanner Rubio added 10 points off the bench for the hosts.
 
During the last meeting in Newark on Jan. 12, 2017, the Highlanders put together a late rally with a 13-6 run over the final four minutes, but Damon Lynn missed a three at the buzzer that would have given NJIT the win.
 
A free throw from Coleman had brought NJIT within one at 81-80 with 0:07 left.
 
Coleman set a school record with his 15^th double-double (15 points, 13 rebounds) in the contest.
 
The Highlanders captured both meetings during the 2015-16 campaign.

 
Dolphin Landing
 
Jacksonville cut the lead to three in the final minute, but USC Upstate held off the late rally in the 91-85 victory over the Dolphins on Thursday night in Spartanburg, S.C.
 
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for head coach Tony Jasick's squad.
 
Junior forward Jace Hogan led four Dolphins in double figures with 19 points, while the trio of redshirt senior guard Devin Harris, redshirt senior forward Cody Helgeland and freshman guard Jalyn Hinton came through with 16 points apiece.
 
Hogan leads the team and ranks fifth in the ASUN in scoring at 16.4 ppg, while freshman guard JD Notae ranks right behind his teammate in sixth at 16.1 ppg. Harris checks in at 12.8 points per game.
 
Jacksonville features two players who rank in the top five in the ASUN in rebounding with Hogan (4^th, 7.3 rpg) and Harris (5^th, 6.8 rpg).
 
Hinton shoots a league-best 61.3% from the floor.
 
Defensively, the Dolphins hold foes to 30.8% shooting from beyond the arc, tops in the ASUN.
 
Jasick is in his fourth season at the helm of the Dolphins and has compiled a 54-65 mark in his three plus seasons thus far.
 
A year ago, the Dolphins went 17-15 and advanced to the CollegeInsider.com tournament where they hosted Saint Francis (PA) in the first ever postseason game at Swisher Gym.
 
Jacksonville graduated seven seniors from last year's team.
 
Jasick previously spent three seasons as the bench boss at Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW) and was named the 2014 Mid-Major National Coach of the Year after leading the Mastodons to a school record 25 wins and a CIT victory over Akron, the first postseason victory in school history.
 
Harris' older brother, Ramon, played basketball at Kentucky and currently plays professionally in Greece.

 
NJIT Outlook
 
NJIT shot a blistering 68.6% from the field in the first half and opened up a 28-point halftime lead en route to the 91-59 victory over North Florida on Thursday night at the WEC.
 
The 32 point win was the largest margin of victory for the Highlanders in an ASUN contest and their biggest win over a Division I opponent since a 94-51 victory over Longwood on Feb. 25, 2012.
 
The previous largest margin of victory in an ASUN game was 20, an 83-63 win vs. Jacksonville on Jan. 21, 2016.
 
North Florida scored the first five points of the game, but a layup from junior guard Reilly Walsh got the Highlanders on the board and kickstarted a 34-9 run over the next eight plus minutes.
 
NJIT led by double digits for the final 33 minutes of the game.
 
The Highlanders hit 24-of-35 (68.6%) from the field in the opening half and drained 6-of-8 from beyond the arc.
 
Junior guard Diandre Wilson paced NJIT offensively with a game-high 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting including a perfect 5-of-5 effort from three. The trio of freshman guard Zach Cooks, Tarke and Lewis all joined Wilson in double figures with 10 points apiece.
 
Cooks has scored in double digits in three of his last four games and is averaging 9.5 points per game over his last eight contests. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native also leads the team with 29 steals (1.5 spg) on the season.
 
Junior center Mohamed Bendary had eight points against North Florida and has posted 6.0 ppg to go along with 5.0 rpg in his last four games.
 
The Highlanders became just the third team this season to hold UNF under 60 points and continue to rank second in the ASUN in scoring defense at 72.6 ppg.


Write-up Courtesy of Joe Fitzhenry