LAS VEGAS, Nev. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Tied 38-38 at the half, the New Jersey City University men's basketball team hit the jackpot, using a 25-4 run to open the second period and cruised to a dominant 87-62 win over Central College (Iowa) in the program's debut at the D3hoops.com Classic on December 28 at the South Point Arena.
In its first regular season game west of the Mississippi River in school history, NJCU (5-6) shot 59.4 percent in the second half (19-32) and limited the Dutch to 24.1 percent (7-29) and 1-of-12 three-point shooting (.083) to pull away.
NJCU held Central without a field goal for 11 minutes in the middle of the second half. The Dutch entered the game ranked seventh in NCAA Division III in scoring offense at 94.8 points per game but NJCU held them 32.9 points under its scoring average.
Down by as many as nine points (27-18) with 7:17 to go in the first half, the Knights trailed 37-30 with 2:05 remaining before outscoring Central (4-7) by an 8-1 margin to close the opening period. By the time the Knights capped its second half run to lead 63-42 with 9:38 remaining in the game, NJCU had manufactured a 33-5 streak that covered a span of 12:41.
"I was really pleased with the effort," said 13th-year head coach Marc Brown. "We started to turn the corner offensively against Yeshiva [December 17] and then we had the break and I was worried about our conditioning and our timing being off, but the good thing is we got here two days ago [December 26] and that really helped. We beat a good team tonight and we needed this win for our psyche, for our confidence and hopefully we can come out again tomorrow and play well."
Seven different Gothic Knights hit a three-pointer on a night where NJCU hit a season-high 12 threes (12-30, .400). Two-time NJAC Player of the Year and two-time All-American senior power forward Sam Toney scored a game-high 19 points, hitting 5-of-10 three-point shots (7-15 FG) in 19 minutes. Senior small forward Jaimik Moore produced his first double-double for the Knights, finishing with 15 points (5-8 FG) and a game-high 13 rebounds.
Also for NJCU, senior center Quadri Moore added 13 points (5-6 FG) and junior shooting guard Denzel Banks notched nine points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Junior power forward Jahmere Calhoun contributed nine points and four steals and sophomore guard Kayton Darley chipped in eight points.
Central received 19 points from junior guard Adam Flinn (St. Louis, Mo.), who was 5-of-16 overall but made 9-of-13 at the line. Junior guard Sean Kostyk (Cape Coral, Fla.) finished with 13 points while freshman guard Drake Johnson (Stanton, Iowa) finished with nine points.
NJCU owned a 28-10 advantage in bench scoring and shot 50 percent overall (31-62). NJCU scored the first six points of the game and led 12-5 less than four minutes into the action. After neither team scored for over 2:15 of action, the NJCU lead hit seven (15-8) on a three by Darley and 18-11 on a triple by Toney.
A 16-0 run by Central fueled by five different players scoring over 5:28 gave the Dutch its largest lead (27-20) with 7:17 left in the half before Jaimik Moore hit two foul shots in the final second to tie it at the half.
The Knights scored the first nine points of the second half to move in front by nine, 45-38. Toney scored five of the nine, including a three-pointer and powered his way to the rim for two. Both baskets were sandwiched around layups from both Jaimik Moore and Quadri Moore as NJCU capped what proved to be a 17-1 run over two halves.
After Central scored twice, the second with 16:35 left (49-42), the Knights sealed the win with 14 consecutive points, holding Central scoreless over a span of 7:11 and without a field goal for exactly 11 minutes. NJCU led by no less than 16 points the rest of the game and the final 25-point margin was its largest.
"We have adjusted really well [being in the Pacific time zone]," said Brown. "They're excited to be here. This [tournament] has a big-time feel. We wish the attendance could be a little more but when you have schools that are not from this area this time of year it's tough to get the big crowd into the arena. But besides that the facility is great, the lodging is great. It's just a great trip to bond and come together and get ready for the second half of the season and the NJAC."
NOTABLES:
- Series: First meeting.
- Game was the first-ever regular season meeting for NJCU with any current member of the American Rivers Conference; the only other meeting was with Nebraska Wesleyan in the 1986 NCAA Division III national third-place game, before NWU was a member of the league.
- For the first time in 53 years, NJCU played a regular season game outside of the Eastern Time Zone. It marked NJCU's first regular season appearance outside of the Eastern time zone since the 1966-67 season—when the then Jersey City State College Gothics competed in the Central Time Zone in Troy, Alabama. On December 12, 1966, JCSC defeated Oakland City College (Ind.), 66-58. On December 13, 1966, host Troy State edged JCSC, 46-45.
- NJCU was competing in the Pacific Time Zone for the first time since the 1979-80 NCAA Division III Tournament West Regional at Humboldt State in Arcata, California. JCSC won both of those games, defeating Beloit College on February 29, 1980, 66-55, then upsetting host Humboldt State (Calif.), 74-73, in the Sweet 16 on March 1, 1980. The Gothics came home to Jersey City and lost a week later to eventual national champion North Park College (86-63) on March 8, 1980 in the Elite 8.
- Toney, seventh in school history, increased his career scoring total to 1,537 points. Next up on NJCU's all-time list: Eric Moore with 1,587 points (1976-80). Toney scored in double figures for the 75th time in 95 career games.
- Jaimik Moore scored in double figures for the fourth time in five games after missing six games between November 19 and December 17. He had his first double-digit rebounding effort.
- Quadri Moore scored in double figures for the fourth time.
- Freshman Kyree Myers, who started the year as the No. 3 point guard on the depth chart and had played just six of the first 10 games, made his first career start at point guard. He had four assists and only one turnover.
UP NEXT:
- On December 29, the Knights face off with Wisconsin-River Falls, member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) at 6 p.m. Pacific/9 p.m. Eastern. NJCU and Wisconsin-River Falls will meet for the first time in their histories. The Falcons (6-3) are coming off an upset of No. 8 ranked Nebraska Wesleyan, 84-82, in their last action on December 21. On paper, this could be the marquee game of the entire men's tournament as the top two public school conferences in Division III, the New Jersey Athletic Conference and WIAC, square off. It will be NJCU's first meeting with any member of the WIAC since losing to Wisconsin-Platteville in the 1992 NCAA Division III Final Four in the national third-place game in Springfield, Ohio. Platteville won that game, 72-61, on March 21, 1992.
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