NJIT finished with a 14-0 run to end the game 81-77 over the Lipscomb Bisons on Saturday night in Allen Arena.
NJIT executed a comeback, and the Bisons and their head Coach Casey Alexander could not find an answer.
“We got exposed, and now all we can do is learn from it,” Coach Alexander said.
The Bisons came out firing on all cylinders in the first half with strong play from Eli Pepper. He led the team on the boards with eight rebounds and scored four points. He also tallied a block and a steal on the defensive end.
Michael Buckland and Garrison Mathews led the team in scoring in a tight first half. Buckland hit back-to-back three-pointers followed by a Rob Marberry dunk to shift the momentum the Bisons’ way. Both Buckland and Matthews totaled eight points each in the half.
The NJIT Highlanders were able to answer back with Abdul Lewis and Anthony Tarke carrying the team offensively. The two players led their team to an 81 – 77 victory over the Bisons. Lewis, the 6-foot-10 forward, was a formidable threat down low with 14 points and six rebounds, and Tarke scored eight.
NJIT ended the first half on a 12 – 2 run. Two turnovers from Lipscomb led to four points for the Highlanders causing Lipscomb to call a timeout. The timeout was not a productive one as NJIT capitalized its run with a three-pointer by Tarke to tie the game in the final seconds of the half.
Mathews came out of the half with eight straight points for Lipscomb. All of those eight points Matthews scored were in the lane.
Marberry’s matchup with Lewis proved to be a struggle for him all night. Marberry was coming off a career high scoring night against USC Upstate on Monday with 38 points. He was held to just 10 points on the night shooting five for 15 from the field.
“He’s [Lewis] a great player,” Marberry said. “He can stretch it out and shoot threes. He got the best of us this game.”
Lewis had a double-double on the night scoring 27 and pulling in 13 rebounds. Tarke finished with 27 points as well. The two combined for over half their team’s points.
Lipscomb never trailed in the second half until the final minute of the game. The Bisons extended their lead to 10 points with three minutes and 35 seconds left in the game, but they did not score after that.
Leading scorer Garrison Matthews committed his fifth foul of the game with just one minute and six seconds left in the game. That was his first time fouling out of a game this season, and it came at a time when the Bisons couldn’t find a bucket. He finished the night with 28 points.
With the win over the Bisons, NJIT snapped Lipscomb’s four-game winning streak.
The Bisons are back in Allen Arena on Thursday to take on Jacksonville.
A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the Bisons’ winning streak was five games.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics