RIVERSIDE, CA - The NJIT men's basketball team went back and forth with host California Baptist for the first 30 minutes of Friday's game, but the Lancers went on a quick run to go ahead and held on for a 59-43 victory in front of a sell-out crowd at the CBU Events Center.
CBU led 31-26 at halftime and scored the first basket of the second half to increase its lead to seven, but the Highlanders answered with a 10-3 run to tie the game at 36 with 14:23 remaining in the game.
The Lancers went back in front by two before a pair of free throws from
Souleymane Diakite once again tied the contest, this time at 38.
CBU scored the next 13 points of the game, however, to break the game open and led by double digits the rest of the way.
Diakite led NJIT in scoring for the second-straight game, scoring 12 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting, just four days after scoring 14 on 6-for-7 shooting in the season-opener.
Mekhi Gray joined Diakite in double figures with 11 points, including three three-pointers.
Gray's other two points came on an alley-oop late in the first half in a play that was started on the defensive end with a block from
Kjell de Graaf, before
Miles Coleman led a two-on-one and found Gray for the dunk.
Kevin Osawe pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds on Friday.
NJIT wraps up its season-opening, three-game road trip on Sunday when it travels south to take on San Diego. Tip-off is slated for 5pm ET/2pm PT at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
