NJIT Highlights

LAWRECEVILLE, NJ - The NJIT men's basketball team shot 50.0% from the field and recorded the same mark from behind the three-point line en route to their first victory of the season, an 81-66 win over host Rider on Wedesday at Alumni Gymnasium on the Broncs' campus in Mercer County.

Dylan O'Hearn came off the bench to score 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while Zach Cooks followed up his 19-point performance in Saturday's season opening with an efficient 17 points on 10 shots Wednesday. In addition to O'Hearn and Cooks, four more Highlanders scored at least eight points as the squad evened its record at 1-1. Rider fell to 1-6 on the season with the loss. 

A pair of early three-pointers from Cooks helped the Highlanders run out to a 10-4 advantage and five straight points from Antwuan Butler, a junior transfer who was making his first start as a Highlander, made the score 20-8 just more than eight minutes into the game.

The teams went back-and-forth the rest of the half with NJIT ultimately leading 33-23 after 20 minutes of play.

NJIT opened the second half on a 9-0 run that was capped by a Diego Willis three-pointer to take complete control of their fellow Garden State opponent.

The Highlanders shot 60.9% (14-of-23) from the field and 62.5% from long range after halftime to put away the Broncs. Twelve of O'Hearns 19 points came after halftime as the junior connected on all four of his shots, including a pair of triples. 

NJIT led by a game-high 25 with just under nine minutes to play before Rider closed the margin to 15 in the final few minutes of the contest. 

In addition to O'Hearn and Cooks, Butler (nine points), Miles Coleman (nine points), San Antonio Brinson (eight points), and Souleymane Diakite (eight points) all scored at least eight points to help push NJIT to its first win of the season. Freshman Mekhi Gray scored the first five points of his career in the victory, making his only field goal attempt and draining 3-of-4 from the foul line.

Cooks, a 5-10 guard, led the squad with seven rebounds, while Butler led the team in assists for the second-straight game with three. 

Six different Highlanders drained a three-pointer in the win, with O'Hearn leading the way with three in four attempts. As a team, NJIT was 10-of-20 from deep, and its 50.0% mark was the highest since it made 10-of-17 (58.8%) in the 2019 ASUN Conference Quarterfinal victory at Florida Gulf Coast.

The Broncs were led by Dontrell McQuarter, who was the only Rider player in double figures with 10 points.

The Highlanders return to the court on Sunday when they travel to Vermont for their first-ever America East Conference game. NJIT and the Catamounts, which were picked atop the America East Preseason Poll, will tip off at 3pm on Sunday and finish their back-to-back series on Monday at 2pm.