NJIT Continues Upward Swing with 92-86 OT Win at St. Francis

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS. Two surprising local men’s basketball teams from last year met Thursday night at the Generoso Pope Athletic Center, and it was New Jersey Institute of Technology that prevailed over host St. Francis Brooklyn, 92-86 in overtime.

With their first-ever Brooklyn win (previously 0-4 against St. Francis and LIU Brooklyn), the Highlanders (6-5 following a 65-56 loss Saturday at Columbia) proved that the optimism created by last year’s program-best 21 wins—including a stunning 72-70 road win last year over then-#16 Michigan—was deserved.

In a back-and-forth contest featuring 16 three-pointers by the host Terriers (3-6) and a game-high 27 points from the Highlanders’ junior forward Tim Coleman, NJIT, a one-time Division 1 doormat, overcame SFC, the reigning Northeast Conference (NEC) champs, for the second straight year.

“St. Francis has always been a very good team, one of the best in the Northeast Conference,” NJIT head coach Jim Engles said. “The fact that we were able to go in there and win a tough overtime game against them is a big deal for our guys.”

One a night when St. Francis unfurled the banner for it’s 2015 NEC regular season title, Thursday’s loss was a bitter reckoning for St. Francis fans. They might recognize in NJIT a version of last year’s talented Terrier team that captured a program-high 23 wins and advanced to within a whisper of its first-ever NCAA tournament before losing 66-63 to Robert Morris in the NEC Championship game.

Coleman and senior guard Ky Howard (23 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) provide the Highlanders with the exciting one-two punch that Jalen Cannon, 2015 Northeast Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year, and Brent Jones, SFC’s spark plug point guard, once delivered for St. Francis on a regular basis. Mix in junior Damon Lynn (15 points), who has the speed and courage to drive relentlessly to the basket, and NJIT boasts one of the area’s most talented rosters.

With Cannon and Jones lost to graduation, the Terriers lack consistent offense, even when topping 80 points, as they did against the Highlanders. When he’s on the court, St. Francis’s Chris Hooper (14 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks) is a dynamic presence underneath, but—like Amdy Fall, 2015 NEC Defensive Player of the Year (a paltry 4 rebounds in 16 minutes before fouling out)—must avoid the petty fouls that lead to extended stays on the bench.

Luckily for St. Francis, junior transfer Jon Doss can shoot the three-ball. With his team down by 13 points midway through the first half, the Chicago native came in and immediately hit a three to trim the NJIT lead to 22-12.

Doss—formerly of Eastern Wyoming Community College—was just getting started. With three-straight three’s to close out the half, Doss electrified the crowd and gave his team a 37-35 lead going into intermission.

The second half was a back and forth affair, with neither team able to get ahead by more than five points. The Terriers kept hitting from outside as both Tyreek Jewell (21 points on 8 of 19 from the field) and Gunnar Olafsson (15 points on 4 of 8 three-pointers) kept the home team close.

NJIT’s Coleman dominated on both ends as he poured in 13 of his points and collected 7 of his game-high 12 rebounds in the second half.

With two minutes left, Antonio Jennifer of St. Francis hit a three to give his team a 71-69 lead. Four straight Highlander points saw the hosts go down by two, but Jewell tied it at 73-all with a pull-up jumper from the left with 28 seconds remaining, leading to overtime.

In the extra session, Fall fouled out early, Coleman nailed a three to give NJIT a lead, and clutch foul shooting down the stretch ensured a huge win for the Highlanders.

Excluding, Doss, who was 5 of 10 from three-point range, the Terriers shot a miserable 26 for 73 (35%) from the field. NJIT found the St. Francis rims far more hospitable, hitting 52% (32-61) of its shots. One bright spot for the host team was rebounding: SFC collected 53 boards—including 28 off the offensive glass—a +15 edge over the visitors.

In a follow up phone call, Coach Engles spoke about the importance of non-conference wins in preparing the Highlanders to open their first season in the Atlantic Sun Conference on January 9 at home against University of South Carolina Upstate.

“We finally got into a league and I really haven’t thought about it,” the NJIT coach admitted. “Being in a conference now and having a non-conference portion of our schedule is really something we have to be aware of.

“Whenever you win a road game against a team of St. Francis’s tradition really helps us from a confidence standpoint when we have to play some of these teams in the Atlantic Sun [Conference],” he said.

At game’s end, a cluster of NJIT fans in the Pope’s front row presented an ecstatic counterpoint in a sea of disappointed Terrier faithful. According to Sean Lubreski they are on NJIT’s baseball team and traveled from the school’s Newark, New Jersey home to lend support.

“We’re a small school,” Lubreski, from North Plainfield, NJ, explained. “We walk around and say: ‘Hey, we’re from NJIT!’ Even though people might not know where that is.”

Local college basketball watchers do now.

PHOTO CAPTION: NJIT’s Tim Coleman
PHOTO CREDIT: NJIT Athletics