BALTIMORE, MD – The NJIT men's basketball team falls to UMBC despite strong second half on Thursday night.

The Highlanders offense was quiet to start the game and their defense struggled to find an answer for a Retriever offense that started the game shooting over 70% from the field.

Graduate student Melvyn Ebonkoli settled the Highlanders offense with points in the paint to create space for the rest of the offense.

After twenty minutes of play, the Highlanders found themselves trailing by 19.

The Retrievers shot an impressive 19-30 from the field (63.3%) and knocked down 4-10 from deep (40%) whereas the Highlanders shot 11-31 from the field (35.5%) and 3-10 from three (30%).

Ebonkoli finished the half leading the way with 10 points on 5-6 shooting from the field.

The final twenty, the Highlanders showed fight battling their way back from what was a 22-point lead for the Retrievers to 12-point lead with under two minutes to go however the early Retriever lead was too large to overcome.

Junior Sebastian Robinson continuted his strong start to conference play with leading the offense for the second half in an attempt to surge a comeback.

Leading the way for the Highlanders was Robinson who finished the game with 19 points and Ebonkoli followed with a season-high 17 points.

Freshman David Bolden finished the game with 11 points, ten of which came in the second half, and sophomore John Kelly scored 11 points on 4-9 shooting from the field.

Next Up
NJIT stays on the road and heads north as the Highlanders take on UAlbany on Thursday, January 29^th for a 6:30 p.m. start time. Stay up to date on all things NJIT Men's Basketball throughout the season by following @NJITHoops on X/Twitter and Instagram.