DURHAM, NH - The NJIT men's basketball team dropped its America East contest at New Hampshire on Thursday, falling 83-78 to the Wildcats in Lundholm Gymnasium.
Thursday's game featured nine lead changes and the Highlanders came back from a 14-point first half deficit before a late push from UNH gave the hosts the win.
Elijah Buchanan opened the game with a three-pointer and
Tariq Francis followed up with one of his own to give the Highlanders an early 6-0 lead.
New Hampshire tied the game at 8-8 and used a 14-0 run midway through the first half to extend its lead to double-digits. A late NJIT surge made the score 42-39 in favor of the Wildcats at halftime.
UNH scored the first two points of the second half, but the Highlanders answered with a 7-2 run and tied the game 46-46 on a
Tariq Francis free throw just under four minutes into the half.
From there, the teams traded the lead several times with NJIT leading by three on two different occasions. Buchanan hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions midway through the half to put NJIT back in front, while
Justin Anderson also drained a pair of second half triples, the second of which gave NJIT a 75-74 lead with 2:28 to play.
UNH's Jaxson Baker's hook shot with 2:01 left put the hosts back in front and the Wildcats led the rest of the way.
Both teams shot the ball well on Thursday, with the Wildcats shooting 53.7% from the field and the Highlanders hitting 48.3% of their shots. UNH hit 9-of-15 three-pointers in the first half en route to a 40.7% shooting percentage from deep for the game.
Francis led the Highlanders with 23 points and dished out six assists, while also recording three steals. Buchanan finished with 19 points and
Levi Lawal also scored in double figures, totaling 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Anderson scored eight points and grabbed four boards in 18 minutes off the bench.
Ahmad Robinson scored a game-high 27 points on just 10 shots for the Wildcats.
NJIT returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Maine. Tip-off is slated for 2pm in Orono.
