NJIT GAME NOTES (PDF)


SPARTANBURG, SC – The NJIT Highlanders (13-15, 6-7 ASUN) look to clinch a home game in the opening round of the ASUN Tournament when they close out the regular season at USC Upstate (7-23, 2-11 ASUN) on Thursday night. Opening tip from the Hodge Center in Spartanburg is slated for 7 p.m.
 
With a win, the Highlanders will clinch the No. 4 seed in the upcoming ASUN Tournament that will get underway with quarterfinal action on Monday, Feb. 26.
 
NJIT has won three of their last four road games.
 
The Highlanders are coming off an 86-75 loss at North Florida on Saturday, while USC Upstate dropped an 82-70 decision at Jacksonville.
 
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
 
USC Upstate leads the all-time series by a 3-2 count, but NJIT picked up a 98-87 win in the most recent meeting on Jan. 6 at the Wellness and Events Center (WEC) in Newark.
 
Three of the five meetings have been decided by two points or less.
 
In the game on Jan. 6, USC Upstate got out to a 14-7 lead before the Highlanders embarked on an 18-4 run capped by a free throw from sophomore forward Anthony Tarke to open up a 25-18 lead with 9:45 left in the opening stanza.
 
The Spartans rallied to tie the game at 39 apiece before NJIT scored the final five points of the half and took a 44-39 lead into the locker room.
 
USC Upstate would not get closer than five the rest of the way.
 
The 98 points was the most ever for NJIT against a Divison I opponent, topping the previous high of 96 that had been done on two occasions.
 
Tarke led five Highlanders in double figures with a game-high 21 points, while junior guard Reilly Walsh and freshman guard Zach Cooks came through with 15 points apiece, freshman guard Shawndale Jones chipped in 13 points off the bench and sophomore guard Shyquan Gibbs added 12.
 
Senior forward Ramel Thompkins and junior guard Jure Span paced the Spartans with 16 points apiece, redshirt junior guard Mike Cunningham and junior forward Malik Moore chipped in 15 and junior guard Deion Holmes added 11 points.
 
USC Upstate picked up a 75-65 victory in the last meeting in Spartanburg on Jan. 7, 2017.

 
The State of Up
 
Jacksonville shot 55.8% (29-of-52) from the floor and led by eight at halftime in the 82-70 victory over USC Upstate on Saturday.
 
The Spartans have lost four straight and eight of their last nine.
 
Holmes had a game-high 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting to lead the way offensively for USC Upstate, while Cunningham had 14 points and Thompkins chipped in with 10.
 
Holmes is one of four Spartans averaging in double figures at 15.8 ppg and is followed by Moore (13.8 ppg), Cunningham (13.3 ppg) and Thompkins (10.6 ppg).
 
Moore is the team's leading rebounder at 6.1 rpg.
 
This will mark the final year as a member of the ASUN for the Spartans who will compete in the Big South Conference beginning in the 2018-19 school year.
 
Head coach Kyle Perry in his first season at the helm of USC Upstate after taking over for Eddie Payne who stepped down from the role on Oct. 3, 2017.
 
Perry had spent the previous eight seasons as an assistant under Payne. During his tenure as an assistant, Perry has helped lead the program to four CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament appearances and USC Upstate has recorded victories over Power Five programs such as Virginia Tech and South Carolina.
 
Previous stops for Perry include stints as an assistant at South Carolina State and Division II Carson-Newman University.
 
Holmes' parents, Elliott and Sharon, both played basketball at USC Upstate and Elliott still ranks 10th in school history in career scoring average (15.1 ppg).
 

NJIT Outlook
 
NJIT went on a run late in the first half to tie things at 39 apiece heading into the locker room, but North Florida scored the first 12 points of the second half in the 86-75 win over the Highlanders on Saturday.
 
Head coach Brian Kennedy's squad did not go quietly as they cut the lead to five on a couple of different occasions, but the Ospreys seemingly had an answer for every Highlander run.
 
Tarke and junior forward Abdul Lewis had 20 points apiece to pace NJIT, while Tarke  led the team with 11 rebounds and Lewis collected 10. Junior guard Donovan Greer chipped in with eight points.
 
Lewis has scored in double digits in seven straight games and is averaging 20.0 ppg to along with 9.7 boards per game during that stretch. The span has included four games with 20 plus points including a career-high 27 on Feb. 3 at Lipscomb.
 
Tarke has scored 20 plus points in six of his last eight games and is averaging 19.6 ppg in that span.
 
On the season, the Highlanders have three players averaging double figures in Tarke (15.8 ppg), Lewis (12.5 ppg) and junior guard Diandre Wilson (10.4 ppg). The 15.8 ppg for Tarke ranks seventh in the ASUN.
 
Lewis leads the team and ranks second in the ASUN in rebounding at 8.6 rpg.