Newark, NJ - The NJIT men's basketball team was missing several key pieces on Wednesday evening and ultimately fell 76-56 to UMBC in America East action at the Wellness and Events Center. 

Like many teams around the country, the Highlanders' roster was depleted to players in COVID-19 protocol on Wednesday as NJIT saw its three-game winning streak come to an end and fell to 8-6 overall and 3-1 in America East play. UMBC, which dealt with its own COVID-19 issues earlier this month, is now 6-7 on the year and 1-1 in AE action. 

UMBC opened the game with a basket from Keondre Kennedy, but NJIT answered with the next four points, getting a pair of buckets from Souleymane Diakite and Mekhi Gray.

The 4-2 lead was the Highlanders only lead of the evening, however, as UMBC scored 10 of the next 12 points and never looked back, holding a double-digit lead for the final 24 minutes of the contest. 

The Retrievers led 35-22 at halftime and increased their lead to 24 with just over 12 minutes to play in the second half. 

NJIT didn't go down without a fight, cutting the deficit to 16 late in the game before ultimately losing by the 20-point margin. 

Diakite scored a season-high 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting for the Highlanders, who were playing without four players, including a pair of starters, and were also missing a pair of coaches on the bench.

The 6'9 Diakite was joined in double figures by Gray, who scored 11 points, just one off of his season-high. Antwuan Butler just missed double figures, scoring nine points to go along with a team-high six rebounds and a team-high three assists. 

All eight players who saw the court for NJIT found their way into the scoring column, including Da'Mir Faison, who tallied a career-high-tying six points. Redshirt junior Kjell de Graaf also added six points for the Highlanders on a pair of successful three-pointers. 

Jacob Boonyasith led four UMBC players in double figures with 14 points, Kennedy put together a solid game of his own, scoring 11 points to go along with game-highs in rebounds (seven) and assists (four). 

NJIT will look to start a new winning streak on Saturday, when it travels to Albany to take on the Great Danes at 4pm. Saturday's America East game will be streamed on ESPN3.