(PITTSBURGH, PA) – Sophomore Zach Cooks scored a game-high 22 points and senior Abdul Lewis set a program record with his 17th career double-double as the Highlanders topped Duquesne University, 78-67, at the A.J. Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh on Monday.
 
NJIT (12-3) closed out the calendar year with its best non-conference record in program history. In addition, the Highlanders tied Stony Brook University with the most road victories in Division-I with seven. They now lead the all-time series against Duquesne, 2-1, while improving to 2-0 versus Atlantic 10 opponents this season.
 
Sophomore San Antonio Brinson also recorded a double-double -- the first of his NCAA career -- with 15 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. His previous best rebounding total was nine – accomplished twice during his freshman season.
 
Senior Diandre Wilson netted 17 points with a career-high six assists -- eclipsing his prior NJIT high of four helpers from a pair of games last season.

Lewis recorded 11 points, a game-high 16 rebounds and a career-high-tying six assists. The Newark product had previously handed out six helpers at Temple University on Dec. 17, 2016. In addition to his program-record 17 career double-doubles, Lewis notched two as a freshman at University of South Alabama. He is now four points away from the 1,000-point plateau in his NCAA career.
 
Duquense finished with a pair of double-digit scorers in freshman Sincere Carry (14 points) and sophomore Michael Hughes (10).

NJIT started to pull away in the second half, elevating its lead its game-high lead to double-digits for the first time early in the second half. Wilson hit a driving layup 24 seconds into the period to up the Highlanders up, 41-31. The lead later soared to 13 on a buzzer-beating triple from straight-on by Lewis for an 48-35 edge. Inbounding passer Gibbs got it to Lewis from the baseline with :01 on the shot clock.
 
However, Duquesne seemed to have enough of its feisty visitors and went on a surge – an 11-2 run over the next 4:16 to pull to 50-46. Later, the lead was trimmed to one possession on a three-pointer from Lamar Norman Jr. to make it a 57-54 game with 7:31 left.
 
NJIT then took a monumental stand with three-straight three-pointers to put the contest out of reach.
 
Cooks first hit a huge trey from the left wing to double the lead, 60-54, at the 6:49 mark. Fifty-three seconds later, Gibbs banged a three from straight-on to swell the advantage back up to nine. Wilson soon followed with a bomb from the right wing and the lead was back to a dozen in a span of just 2:07 at 68-57 with 4:42 remaining.
 
The Highlanders defense was also in prime form, holding the Dukes to 35.8-percent (24-for-67) shooting and 21.4-percent (6-for-28) from distance.
 
Meanwhile, NJIT shot 47.5-percent (28-for-59) from the floor, 40.0-percent (8-for-20) from beyond the arc and 82.4-percent (14-for-17) from the line. The success improved in the second half, when Brian Kennedy's team drained 14-for-28 (50.0%) from the floor and 5-for-9 (55.6%) from downtown.
 
For the game, the men from Newark led the Dukes for 37:46 – or 94.4-percent -- of the afternoon.
 
As the individual stats may have already indicate, the Highlanders had a significant rebounding advantage at 46-35, which rolled over to a 38-22 edge on points in the paint.
 
NJIT took an early lead in this game and controlled the pace the entire first half – leading for 17:46 of the stanza and taking a 39-31 lead into the locker room. In fact, the Highlanders only trailed for 16 seconds in the entire game -- and answered promptly with a three-pointer by Gibbs at the 12:28 mark that put them ahead for the remainder of the period.
 
The lead built to a then-game-high eight points, 37-29, on a perfect bounce pass through traffic from Lewis to the cutting Cooks, who finished with a layup. NJIT took that same buffer into the half on an offensive rebound and put-back by senior Mohamed Bendary moments before the buzzer.

With a 7-2 mark on the road this season, the Highlanders are just one win shy of the single-season program record of eight road victories (8-9) during the 2015-16 season (20-15) -- and the team still has eight road games remaining on the schedule.
 
NJIT will next start ASUN conference play with a home tilt against Kennesaw State University () on Jan. 5 at the Wellness and Events Center in Newark.