NJIT GAME NOTES (PDF)


JACKSONVILLE, FL – The NJIT Highlanders (12-14, 5-6 ASUN) look to snap a two-game skid and move back to .500 in league play when they battle the Jacksonville Dolphins (12-16, 6-5 ASUN) on Thursday night. Opening tip from Swisher Gymnasium in Jacksonville is set for 7 p.m.
 
NJIT is coming off an 84-80 loss to Stetson on Thursday, while Jacksonville fell by a 78-54 margin at the hands of Kennesaw State.
 
This is a matchup of two of the top three scoring defenses in the ASUN as NJIT allows 72.9 ppg, which ranks second and Jacksonville sits third at 75.5 ppg.
 
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.

 
All-Time Series
 
Jacksonville leads the all-time series by a 3-2 count after picking up a 63-61 victory on Jan. 20 at the Wellness and Events Center (WEC) in Newark.
 
Each of the last three meetings have been decided by three points or less.
 
In the last meeting between the two teams, the Highlanders put together a late rally and sophomore forward Anthony Tarke hit a jumper with 3:05 left to tie the game at 59 apiece before Jacksonville's Jace Hogan sank a jumper of his own on the other end to give the Dolphins the lead for good.
 
NJIT had chances to tie the game or take the lead in the final two minutes, but was unable to get over the hump.
 
Trailing 61-59, Tarke misfired on a potential go-ahead three with 1:15 to go.
 
Junior forward Abdul Lewis led the way offensively for NJIT with a game-high 16 points and 13 rebounds. Lewis was joined in double figures by junior guard Diandre Wilson (11 points) and Tarke (10 points, nine rebounds).
 
Hogan, a junior forward, paced Jacksonville with 12 points while the trio of redshirt senior forward Cody Helgeland and freshman guards Jalyn Hinton and JD Notae came through with 10 points apiece.
 
During the last meeting in Jacksonville on Feb. 11, 2017, the Dolphins' Andris Misters hit a go-ahead three with 0:07 left to give the hosts the lead for good in a 76-73 victory.
 
The Highlanders captured both meetings during the 2015-16 campaign.

 
Dolphin Landing
 
In the 78-54 loss at Kennesaw State on Saturday, the Dolphins were outscored 43-25 in the first half.
 
Jacksonville was held to 33.3% shooting (17-of-51) from the field in the contest and has dropped three straight.
 
Hogan had 14 points and 11 rebounds to lead Jacksonville, while Notae added nine points and redshirt senior guard Devin Harris chipped in with eight.
 
Hogan leads the team and ranks sixth in the ASUN in scoring at 16.0 ppg, Notae sits eighth at 15.4 ppg and Harris checks in at 12.2 ppg.
 
Harris also ranks fourth in the ASUN in rebounding at 7.0 rpg.
 
Hinton shoots a league-best 62.1% from the floor.
 
Defensively, the Dolphins hold foes to 31.0% shooting from beyond the arc, tops in the ASUN.
 
Head coach Tony 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 trailed by as many as 19 in the second half, but came up just short in the 84-80 loss to Stetson on Saturday.
 
Trailing 68-49 with 10:15 to play, the Highlanders embarked on a 26-8 run that was capped by a layup from junior center Mohamed Bendary that brought head coach Brian Kennedy's squad within one at 76-75 with 3:15 left.
 
Luke Doyle answered for Stetson with a jumper on the other end that stretched the lead back to three.
 
Trailing 82-77 in the final minute, NJIT's freshman guard Zach Cooks buried a three with 0:39 left to cut the lead to a pair at 82-80. On the ensuing possession with the shot clock winding down, Angel Rivera knifed through the line for the Hatters and hit a floater with 0:11 left to preserve the win for the visitors.
 
Cooks had a career-high 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting to pace the Highlanders and was joined in double figures by Lewis (18 points, 13 rebounds), junior guard Donovan Greer (12 points) and sophomore guard Shyquan Gibbs (11 points).
 
The 21 points for Cooks surpassed his previous career-high of 17 on Nov. 22 vs. Kean and the 12 points for Greer surpassed his previous career-best of 11 points on Feb. 4, 2017 at Lipscomb.
 
Lewis has scored in double digits in five straight games and is averaging 20.8 ppg to go along with 10.0 rpg during that stretch.
 
Cooks has scored nine or more points in each of his last five contests and is averaging 13.0 ppg in that span.
 
With three games remaining in the regular season, NJIT currently sits in a three-way tie for fourth place with Kennesaw State and North Florida.