Lewisburg, Pa. – The NJIT men's basketball continued its seven-game road stretch on Thursday night at Bucknell, suffering an 81-64 setback to the Bison inside Sojka Pavilion. Two Highlanders finished in double figures, led by Tariq Francis' 19 points as he led the team in scoring for the sixth straight contest. Sebastian Robinson also eclipsed double figures, finishing with 11 points.

How it Happened
After finding themselves down seven at the first media break, the Highlanders used a couple made jumpers from Triston Wennersten and Walt Andrews Jr. to trim the deficit down to one, 11-10. Bucknell would later take a double digit lead in the half, as a couple free throws at the 6:07 mark but the Bison up 12, their largest lead to that point.

NJIT responded with a run of its own, started by a layup from Jordan Rogers off a pretty pass from Robinson. The sophomore guard would score a couple buckets himself, nailing two midrange jumpers followed by a Francis two to cap off NJIT's 10-0 run to trim the Bucknell lead to four, 29-25. Bucknell would close the half strong, using a 14-2 run to take a double digit lead in the game for good.

The Highlanders fell behind early in the second half, but applied pressure midway through the stanza to create some stress on the Bucknell bench. After a free throw at the 10:30 mark matched Bucknell's largest lead at 25, the Highlanders ripped off the next 11 points. A Wennersten three, followed by buckets from Francis and Robinson helped NJIT inch closer. Ari Fulton finished off the scoring burst with a layup off a Francis assist with 8:07 to play to force a Bucknell timeout. However, the Bison would come out of the timeout and reclaim momentum, keeping NJIT at bay and taking the victory.
News & Notes

• The Highlanders set season highs in free throws made (14), rebounds (38), steals (7) and blocks (8).
• Francis has surpassed 500 points for his career.
• Francis' six rebounds are his most in a game since pulling down nine at UMBC on Jan. 27, 2024.
• Fulton (23), Malachi Arrington (19) and John Kelly (10) each played a season-high in minutes.

Up Next
NJIT travels to Cleveland, Ohio next week to take part in the Cleveland State Thanksgiving Throwback. The Highlanders will face Cleveland State on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. before taking on Morehead State on Wednesday at 4 p.m.