Baltimore, Md. – Five Highlanders scored in double figures, led by
Tariq Francis matching his season-high with 27 points, but the NJIT men's basketball could not temper UMBC's hot perimeter shooting in a 95-91 loss on Saturday afternoon.
Francis was his stellar self, adding seven rebounds, six assists and four 3-point makes to his 27 points.
Quentin Duncan was strong off the bench for NJIT, scoring 18 points and nailing four 3-pointers.
Tim Moore Jr. finished with 16 points on the day while
Ari Fulton and
Jordan Rogers each added 10 points.
How it Happened
NJIT shot the ball efficiently all day to the clip of 51.6 percent. That hot-shooting started early, with the Highlanders connecting on four of their first six shots. Rogers opened the scoring with five straight points, followed by back-to-back triples from Francis as NJIT took an early 11-6 lead. After UMBC trimmed the deficit with a couple good trips down the floor, NJIT went on an 8-0 run which was punctuated by another emphatic alley-oop slam from Moore.
The jam gave NJIT momentum as the visitors opened up a lead as large as 13 in the first half. Part of that stretch was Duncan's emergence in the game, knocking down his first two 3-pointers as the Highlanders continued their surge. UMBC would fight back thanks to Marcus Banks Jr., who made six of his nine 3-pointers in the first half as the Retrievers rallied back to hold a 46-42 lead after a high-scoring first half.
The Retrievers stretched their lead to as large as 12 in the second half, 70-58, but NJIT would not go down easily. Three-pointers from Duncan and Moore kept the Highlanders within striking distance, while UMBC fouled Francis and Duncan on three-point attempts to allow NJIT to score with the clock stopped. NJIT got within a pair of multiple occasions over the final few minutes, but UMBC kept having a response for every NJIT bucket to hold on for the victory.
News & Notes
- This was Francis' 12th 20-point game so far this season and matches his season-high of 27 points which he set at UAlbany on Jan. 25
- NJIT shot a season-best 57.8 percent from behind the arc and shot above 50 percent from the floor as a team for the first time this season.
- The Highlanders had three players score in double figures for the third time this season.
Up Next
NJIT returns to the WEC for two games next week, starting with a matchup against Vermont on Thursday at 7 p.m.
