NJIT Still Seeks First Win
by Ray Floriani
NEWARK, N.J. – The streak continues. Loyola (MD) defeated NJIT 72-54 at the Fleisher Athletic Center on Tuesday. The loss sent the Highlanders to 0-22 while Loyola improved to 12-10. The final score, though, does not indicate the competiveness of the contest.
“They’re going to get someone,” Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos said of NJIT. “They are still playing hard, competing and I think they’ll surprise someone and knock them off.”
For a half, local fans at the game on the Newark school’s campus, had hope. For a good part of the first twenty minutes it was a one or two-possession affair, and NJIT went in at the half down six (31-25). The opening four minutes of the second half proved to be the local team’s undoing.
Loyola senior forward Michael Tuck made a conventional three-point play, then one from beyond the arc to get the Greyhound rally going. Over those crucial four minutes Loyola outscored the Highlanders 12-5 to take a 13-point lead. NJIT made a few runs but the visitors from the MAAC were never really threatened.
“I’m happy with the win here,” Patsos said. “They (NJIT) are playing better than their record reflects and any win on the road is important.”
Patsos did not play Gerald Brown the entire first half, as the Loyola mentor hoped to rest the high-scoring senior guard. A weekend trip to Niagara and Canisius is on the horizon and the plan was to give Brown, who was fighting off some nagging injuries, a little breather. The rest was short as the nature of the game necessitated Brown start the second half. Brown played the full 20 minutes and scored 16 points. Tuck led all scorers with 23 while Jheryl Wilson paced NJIT with 12.
“We played well and competed,” NJIT coach Jim Casciano said. “But when things go bad they really go bad, like when we missed a couple of breakaway dunks the first half. That could have given us momentum.”
Casciano didn’t mention moral victory but did see a bright spot from the game. “I told the team we can build on this,” he said. “We played hard and we have to learn to give a 40-minute or close to 40 (minute) effort like this. You just can’t play 6 good and 12 poor minutes.”
NJIT is making progress, specifically in cutting down turnovers and rebounding. NJIT had only 13 miscues and out-rebounded the Greyhounds 19-9 on the offensive boards. Shooting is still a problem, as the Highlanders were of 16 of 64 for 25 percent. “We’re getting looks,” Casciano said. “You play hard, you will get good looks. We are getting the shots we want, we just have to start making them.”
Niagara Picks Up Road Win
The previous Friday Niagara stopped St. Peter’s 79-59 at Yanitelli Center in Jersey City. The Peacocks faced Charron Fisher, the third-leading scorer in the nation. Fisher scored 29 points while a good deal of damage was done by running mate Tyrone Lewis. The sophomore guard added 25 points including several threes late the first half that brokethe contest open. Still, the 79-59 score is not indicative of the intensity victorious Niagara faced.
“It was a war, very physical,” said Niagara mentor Joe Mihalich. “He has them playing hard every night out,” he added in a reference to St. Peter’s head coach John Dunne.
Niagara improved to 12-5 (6-2 in the MAMMC). St. Peter’s fell to 4-15 (1-8 in the MAAC). The Purple Eagles, defending MAAC tournament champions, are making a strong run and will be a threat when the post season tournament convenes in March at Albany.
Mihalich had a few comments on Fisher, noting, “He leaves it all on the floor,” he said. “In my thirty years of coaching I don’t think I’ve coached a more competitive player. He’s fearless and he still puts up those numbers (26 ppg) even though he’s the highlight of every opponent’s scouting report.”
St. Peter’s was paced by freshman guard Darrell Lampley, a star at nearby Linden High School with 16 points. Mihalich saw Lampley at last year’s Union County (NJ) Tournament and was very impressed. “We had one small guard (Lewis at 5-11) and wasn’t sure I wanted to add another (Lampley is 5-9),” Mihalich said. “But I wondered why St. Peter’s wasn’t recruiting him and three weeks later I heard they signed him.”
