NEWARK, NJ-- The NJIT men's basketball team looks to end its six-game losing skid on Saturday when it travels to Brooklyn to take on host St. Francis College at 2pm.
LAST TIME OUT
An undermanned NJIT men's basketball team returned home after four games on the road and put together a spirited effort on Wednesday, despite falling to visiting UMass Lowell 72-66, at the Wellness and Events Center.
NJIT (2-8) played without a pair of big men in
San Antonio Brinson and
Kjell de Graaf and turned a seven-point halftime deficit into a lead late in the second half, but ultimately ran out of gas and was defeated by the Hawks (6-6).
"We showed a lot of fight tonight," explained Head Coach
Brian Kennedy. "We had a lot of young guys play some big minutes, but in the end, no one feels sorry for us, we're going to have to keep battling."
Cooks Off to a Hot Start
Junior captain
Zach Cooks was a unanimous selection to the preseason All-ASUN Team and is proving voters right. Cooks has scored 20+ points in nine of 10 games this season and is averaging 23.3ppg, the most in the league and fifth most in the nation. Prior to Wednesday's game, Cooks was honored for his 1,000th-career point, which came earlier this season at Brown.
Brushing Up on the Terriers
St. Francis has won two of three and is coming off of a 64-63 victory over visiting Presbyterian on Tuesday. The Terriers are 3-0 at home, with two of those wins coming by one point.
Chauncey Hawkins is SFC's leader on the court, averaging more than 30 minutes per game and leading three scorers in double figures with 15.4 ppg. Deniz Celen (11.1 ppg) and Unique McLean (10.8 ppg) are also averaging 10+ for the Terriers.
SFC was picked to finish eighth in the 11-team NEC.
All-Time Series
Saturday's meeting is the eighth all-time between the Highlanders and Terriers. SFC won the first four games of the series from 2010-13, but NJIT bounced back and enters today's matchup on a three-game winning streak against St. Francis.
Last three meetings:
12/8/18: NJIT 82, St. Francis 60 -- Newark, NJ
12/10/15: NJIT 92, St. Francis 86 -- Brooklyn, NY
12/9/14: NJIT 68, St. Francis 66 -- Newark, NJ
Last Year vs. St. Francis
Senior
Abdul Lewis put forth a monster performance with game-highs in points (19), rebounds (16), assists (3) and blocks (5) in leading NJIT past St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday at the Wellness and Events Center (WEC).
In what was a growing theme for NJIT, defense was at the heart of this victory. The Highlanders held the NEC's second-leading scoring offense to just 60 points -- 18.5 points below their season average at the start of play. The Terries began just 1-for-12 from the floor, which proved to be a harbinger for the entire game. St. Francis Brooklyn finished at just 31.3-percent shooting (21-for-67) and 21.4-percent from downtown 6-for-28).
In addition, NJIT limited the Terriers' top three scorers, Jalen Jordan (16.3 ppg), Chauncey Hawkins (13.8 ppg) and Glenn Sanabria (10.1 ppg) to a combined 24 points on 9-for-35 shooting (25.7%).
Sophomore
Zach Cooks, who came into the affair leading the ASUN in scoring at 19.0 points per game, finished exactly at his average -- sharing game-high honors with Lewis at 19 points.
NJIT vs. the NEC
NJIT is 20-12 all-time against the Northeast Conference. Earlier this season, the Highlanders defeated NEC-foe Wagner in Newark.
Up Next
NJIT will take the week off for final exams and return to the court on Sunday, December 22, when it hosts Kean University at 2pm in the WEC.
