PROVIDENCE, RI - The NJIT men's basketball team fell behind big early and couldn't claw all the way back as it was defeated 79-63 by host Brown on Saturday at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
NJIT (2-4) junior captain Zach Cooks led all scorers with 30 points, including the 1,000th of his career in the loss. Brown (4-1) was led by Brandon Anderson, who scored 26 points while playing all 40 minutes.Â
Anderson and the Bears shot 51.9% from the field in the win, including 60.0% (9-of-15) from long-range, while holding the Highlanders to 38.9% shooting from the field and 33.3% from deep.
The Bears came out of the gates fast and jumped out to a 7-2 lead. The margin blossomed to double-digits midway through the first half on a three-pointer from Perry Cowan with 10:40 left before halftime.
Levar Williams answered Cowan's triple with a jumper to make the deficit nine, but Brown came back down the floor and got a Joshua Howard three-pointer to go back ahead by 12 and it led by double-digits the rest of the way.
The Brown lead increased to a game-high 26 with 1:30 left in the half before the Highlanders scored five-straight points to make the margin 21, 45-24 at halftime.
NJIT showed a great deal of life early in the second half, making runs that cut the deficit to as little as 10 on several occasions.
The Highlanders were unable to get within the 10-point margin, however, and Brown continued to be lethal from deep to maintain their lead.Â
Souleymane Diakite grabbed a game-high-tying nine rebounds to lead the Highlanders, who were out-rebounded 40-26 on the evening. The sophomore also led all players with three blocks.
Cooks, who also tallied a game-best three steals, has now scored 30 points in back to back games for the first time in his career and is averaging 25.5 ppg on the season. That mark leads the ASUN Conference and ranks fifth in the NCAA.
NJIT continues its season-long, four-game road trip on Tuesday when it travels down the Turnpike to take on Rutgers. Tip-off is slated for 7pm at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway and the game will be aired nationally on the Big Ten Network.
