Newark, NJ - The NJIT men's basketball team was defeated on Wednesday, falling 83-55 to visiting New Hampshire in America East action at the Wellness and Events Center. 

NJIT drops to 11-15 on the season and 6-10 in America East play, while New Hampshire is now 13-12 overall and evened its conference record to 8-8.

Souleymane Diakite opened up the scoring for NJIT and sank a pair of free throws minutes later to put the Highlanders up 7-5, but that was their last lead of the game as New Hampshire scored 24 of the next 32 points to take a 29-13 lead late in the first half. 

NJIT went on a quick spurt to cut the deficit to eight with 1:31 left in the opening half before UNH answered with a pair of three-pointers in the final minute to make the score 37-23 as the teams went to their locker rooms for halftime. 

The Highlanders scored the first seven points of the second half to cut the Wildcats' lead to seven, but that was as close as they'd get. New Hampshire pulled away in the final half, going ahead by as many as 30 before ultimately winning the game by the 28-point margin. 

Diakite, who was honored before the game for NJIT's annual Senior Night along with Matt Faw and Kjell de Graaf, recorded his second-straight double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 boards.

Mekhi Gray was the Highlanders' leading scorer, setting a new career-high with 16 points, while Miles Coleman netted 12 points to join Diakite and Gray in double figures. 

Five Wildcats scored at least 13 points with Nick Johnson's 17 leading the way.

The Highlanders will return to the court on Saturday when they head to West Hartford, CT, to take on Hartford. Tip-off is slated for 2pm vs. the Hawks.