VIDEO: NJIT Highlights

Newark, NJ - The NJIT men's basketball team suffered a 66-49 setback to visiting Army West Point on Friday evening at the Wellness and Events Center.

NJIT (5-4) saw its three-game winning streak come to an end with the loss, while the Black Knights (6-4) have now won two in a row.

Army opened the game with a basket 1:26 into the contest and was able to hold on to its lead for the final 38:34. 

The Black Knights opened up an early 19-10 advantage when Jalen Rucker hit a step-back jump shot with just over 10 minutes to play in the first half. The Highlanders immediately answered, however, scoring the next eight points to cut the deficit to just one, 19-18, less than two minutes later. 

Army was able to close the first half on an 8-1 run to take a 30-23 lead into the locker room at halftime. Miles Coleman appeared to close the gap to 30-26 at the end of the first half, but the officials reviewed the play and deemed the ball was still in Coleman's hands as the clock zeroed out. 

Coleman opened up the second half with a driving layup to cut the lead to five and NJIT was able to make it five once more when Dylan O'Hearn drained a three-pointer to make the score 42-37 with 11:28 to play.

Army scored the next eight points to take a 13-point advantage with just over nine minutes to play and appeared to be headed for a comfortable win until NJIT went on a 10-2 run capped by an Antwuan Butler three-pointer that once again closed the gap to just five.

Army scored the next five points, however, and finished the game on a 14-2 run to win the by the 17 point margin.

O'Hearn, the America East's leading scorer, led all players with 16 points. Coleman just missed his second double-double of the season, scoring eight points and tying his career-high with 10 rebounds. 

Rucker (12 points), Chris Mann (11 points) and Josh Caldwell (10 points) led a balanced scoring attack for the Black Knights. Mann, Charlie Peterson and Matt Dove each grabbed a team-high nine rebounds for Army, which out-rebounded the Highlanders 53-32 and out-scored them 18-4 in second chance points.

The Highlanders will return to the court on Sunday when they travel to take on Northwestern in a nationally-televised contest. Tip-off against the Wildcats is slated for 4pm ET at Welsh-Ryan Arena and the game can be watched on ESPNU.