Division I NJIT Overpowers Bears

NEWARK, NJ – Following their crushing overtime defeat at the hands of St. Joseph's College, Long Island Saturday night, the Bears schedule didn't provide any breaks as they traveled to Newark, NJ to take on Division I NJIT. The Bears were able to hang with the home team for a while, but in the end the Highlanders were too much, disposing the Bears 78-50.

These two teams met last year, with NJIT pulling out a nail-biter 65-57. St. Joseph's made a second half run to bring the game to within four after trailing by as many as 17.

St. Joseph's (4-6, 1-0 HVMAC) was ice cold from the get-go, missing on their first ten field goal attempts. The Bears' first field goal came from Kevin Alesi (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) at the 9:53 mark of the first half.

By that point, the Highlanders (4-5) had already jumped out to a double-digit lead, with six players scoring baskets.

After trailing by as many as 13 in the opening frame, the Bears went on a 19-13 run to end the half, closing the gap to seven, 32-25.

The Bears held a 21-17 edge in rebounding at the break, with Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep) and David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund's Prep) each pulling down five. Rogowski also had a team-high seven points in the first twenty minutes.

PJ Miller had the hot hand for the Highlanders in the first half, scoring nine points on 4-of-6 shooting. NJIT didn't hurt themselves committing only five turnovers, while causing nine from the Bears.

Justin Gist (Brooklyn, NY/Newsome) opened the second half with a jumper just 26-seconds in, trimming the Highlander lead to five, but NJIT rattled off three consecutive shots, bringing the lead back up to 11.

Chris Flores pushed the lead even further sinking a three-point shot with 16:04 remaining. He then grabbed a steal and went the other way for an easy dunk, giving the Highlanders five points in 20 seconds and their biggest lead of the game, 44-29.

NJIT was red-hot in the second half and didn't give the Bears a chance to make a comeback like last year. After going just 10-of-30 in the opening frame, the Highlanders connected on 69% (18-of-26) of their shots in the second half to put the game away. Flores and Isaiah Wilkerson combined to outscore the Bears in the second half 27-25 as they hit a combined 11-for-14 from the floor.

Rogowski and Louison shared the team lead with ten points apiece. Louison also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.

NJIT was quick in transition, scoring 23 points off 19 Bear turnovers. They outscored St. Joseph's by 16 in that category and also scored 12 fast-break points.

Flores and Wilkerson led the Highlanders with 19 and 18 points respectively. Miller also saw double-figures, scoring 13.

St. Joseph's will look to get back in the win column at the Centenary College Holiday Tournament on December 29th and 30th in Hackettstown, NJ. The Bears play the host school on the 29th with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 pm.