Video: Gibbs' Game-Winning Shot | ESPN Sportscenter Top 10 (Play #5)

ITHACA, NY - Senior captain Shyquan Gibbs' driving jumper with five tenths of a second remaining gave the NJIT men's basketball team a 59-58 victory over host Cornell on Wednesday at Newman Arena.

The shot – and two separate 11-0 runs in the second half - helped the Highlanders overcome a 20-point deficit and earn their first win of the 2019-20 season.

Zach Cooks' three-pointer with 1:01 left to play gave NJIT its first lead of the game, 55-54. The lead changed hands four more times in the final 61 seconds, the final time coming on Gibbs' basket with:00.5 on the clock
 
"We've now had two, 19+-point second half comebacks this season, one where we were able to get a win tonight and one last week at Colgate where we fell just short," explained Head Coach Brian Kennedy. "That says two things, the first is that we have a resilient, tough bunch. The second is that we need to get off to better starts."
 
The NJIT victory looked improbable early as Cornell raced out to a 12-2 lead and led 34-16 at halftime as the Highlanders struggled offensively, shooting just 19.4% (6-of-31) in the first 20 minutes.
 
The Big Red increased their lead to a game-high 20 points on a jumper from Bryan Knapp with 18:06 to play in the second half.
 
From there, the Highlanders clawed back with an 11-0 run over the next three minutes to cut the deficit to single digits at the first media timeout of the second half. Gibbs scored five points during the run, while Cooks, Souleymane Diakite and San Antonio Brinson each chipped in with a basket.
 
The next 10 minutes saw the margin stay between six and 12 points as Cooks, Brinson and Diakite helped the Highlanders stay in the contest.
 
After a Josh Warren jumper put Cornell back in front by double digits, 54-44, with 4:22 left, NJIT once again went on a run, scoring the next 11 points, capped by a Zach Cooks three-pointer with 1:01 on the clock to give the Highlanders their first lead of the game.
 
Terrance McBride answered Cooks' triple with a layup to put the hosts back in front, but Cooks was fouled on the next possession and made both ends of a 1-and-1 to put NJIT back in front again, 57-56 with 27 seconds to play.
 
Warren was able to connect on a jumper with five seconds to play and put the Big Red back in front.
 
NJIT inbounded the ball to Gibbs, who crossed half court and quickly called timeout to allow Kennedy to draw up a play give the Highlanders a chance to escape Ithaca with a wild victory.
 
Reilly Walsh inbounded the ball in front of the NJIT bench and found Gibbs cutting to the basket. Gibbs was able to receive the pass and hit the heroic shot that got the Highlanders their first win of the season.
 
"We thought they'd put a lot of focus on Cooks, so we used him as a bit of a decoy there," added Kennedy. "We wanted to get Gibbs on a curl to the basket and he was able to score between two guys. It was an incredible shot for a guy we know we can rely on."
 
Cooks, who entered the game leading the ASUN Conference in scoring at 22.5 ppg, led all scorers with 22 points to go along with six rebounds. Diakite recorded his first-career double-double, tallying 10 points and grabbing a career-best 13 boards. Gibbs finished with nine points, all after halftime and none more important than the two that put NJIT ahead for good with five tenths of a second on the clock.
 
The Highlanders drained all 12 of their free throw attempts in Wednesday's win, led by Kjell de Graaf's 6-for-6 performance from the foul line. NJIT bounced back from their first-half shooting woes by shooting 55.2% (16-of-29) after halftime to help aid the comeback.
 
The squad will look to make it two in a row on Saturday when they play at the Wellness and Events Center for the first time this season. Tip-off between the Highlanders and Wagner is slated for 2pm in Newark. 
 
"We're very excited to get back to Newark and finally play in front of our home crowd at the WEC," concluded Kennedy. "It's hard to start the season on the road, but I'm proud of where we are at."