GALLOWAY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Freshman shooting guard Nizair Scott buried back-to-back-to-back three-point shots in a 61-second span to bust open a tied game as the New Jersey City University men's basketball team became the first New Jersey Athletic Conference school to knock off first-place Stockton University this year, 78-70, in league action January 11 at the Stockton Sports Center.

NJCU won a conference game it had to have, improving to 6-8 overall and 3-4 in the conference while knocking off the Ospreys (9-5, 6-1 NJAC), who entered the game as a surprise—first place in the league and the final unbeaten team in NJAC action. NJCU was the league's preseason No. 1 team while Stockton was seventh. 

"Our backs were against the wall," admitted Marc Brown, winner of three of the last seven NJAC Coach of the Year awards. "So far this has been a very disappointing year compared to expectations but we had 12 games to go. We came out and fought hard against a good team that is tough to beat at home. We did enough to win the game and we got contributions from unexpected sources. Sometimes that's what it takes. Good teams win these games. They're also a really good team. This is just one win and we have more work to do but it felt good to come home on the bus with a men's and women's sweep; we haven't had that in a while."

Scott, who had scored just 21 points in limited action over the first seven games of the season, will certainly become a focus for the Gothic Knights in the future after making his presence felt—scoring all of his career-high 11 points in less than seven minutes during a 16-3 run that put the game firmly in the hands of the visiting Knights. 

Tied at 58-58, Scott buried threes on three consecutive trips down the floor—connecting on shots at the 9:16, 8:39 and 8:15 marks—all coming off assists from junior point guard Tarique Holmes, to give the Knights a 67-60 lead. Holmes followed with a three-point play (7:52) to push the lead into double figures (70-60).

"He's a confident kid," Brown described Scott. "He's always been confident and he probably expected to perform that way. Once he hit the first three, he looked even more comfortable. He can shoot and he proved it today. We haven't gotten much out of the two-guard spot and he delivered today. Holmes also played an unbelievable floor game and looked comfortable tonight. It was a performance that was necessary."

Scott scored his 11th point on a layup with 7:11 left and Holmes hit two foul shots to give NJCU a 74-61 cushion with 5:43 to go that proved to be too much for the Ospreys to overcome.

Stockton tried to salvage the game late, using a 9-0 run, keyed by two three-pointers from sophomore guard Kyion Flanders (Wildwood, N.J.) to close within four, 74-70, with 2:23 left. NJCU had a chance to make it a one-possession game but Flanders turned it over with 1:39 to play and senior small forward Jaimik Moore ended another late-game scoring drought for the Knights—a 5:56 stretch without a field goal—when he scored on a driving layup with 1:16 remaining. Stockton missed a three and then turned it over with 27.4 seconds to go before NJCU iced it at the line.  

NJCU had five players score in double figures, led by Holmes, who made his first conference start since November 26 and enjoyed by far his best career effort with 16 points, six assists and only one turnover in 38 minutes. He shot 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-6 from three-point range.

Jaimik Moore tallied 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting before fouling out. Scott played just eight minutes all game, yet scored the 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting including 3-of-4 three-point prowess.

Junior shooting guard Denzel Banks added 11 points (4-7 FG), five rebounds and four steals in 20 minutes and two-time NJAC Player of the Year and two-time All-American senior power forward Sam Toney collected 10 points. Senior center Quadri Moore had a balanced effort with six points, six steals and five rebounds. Sophomore guard Kayton Darley had eight points.

Flanders was the game's high scorer and the only Osprey in double figures, finishing with 20 points (6-11 FG, 4-7 3FG), six rebounds and four assists. Senior forward Jordan Taylor (East Orange, N.J.) had nine points and five assists while junior guard Luciano Lubrano (Ocean City, N.J.) finished with nine points and four assists. Freshman guard DJ Campbell (Vineland, N.J.), the NJAC Rookie of the Week in four of the first nine weeks this season, was limited to just four points on three shots (1-3) in 16 minutes.

NJCU bounced back from a double-digit first half deficit partially due to its ability to force turnovers and score in transition. Stockton committed 27 turnovers and the Knights owned a 36-21 margin in points off giveaways. NJCU had 13 steals in the win.

Both teams shot well in the first half—Stockton at 55.6 percent (15-27), including a sizzling 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) from three-point range, to build an 11-point, 41-30 cushion with 5:21 to go in the opening period after using a 12-2 run to open up a two-point game. NJCU held Stockton without a field goal the rest of the half, answering the Ospreys with an 11-2 run to close within 43-41 at halftime.

NJCU shot 51.6 percent in the first half (16-31) and 49.1 percent for the game (27-55) After scoring 43 points in the first half, Stockton was held to 27 in the second, shooting just 8-of-22 (36.4 percent) and NJCU capitalized. NJCU took the lead (44-43) on a Jaimik Moore jumper with 17:44 to play and Stockton never led again, although NJCU wasn't able to separate itself. A jumper by Toney with 13:05 to go made the lead six (51-45) and a triple by Holmes with 11:31 to play gave the Knights a seven-point edge (56-49). Stockton rallied to tie it at 58-58 with 9:59 remaining on two Flanders foul shots before Scott ignited to change the outcome of the game.

NOTABLES:

• Series: 87th meeting. NJCU leads all-time series, 51-36.
• Nizair Scott is shooting 66.7 percent from three-point range on 10-of-15 this season.
• Jaimik Moore scored in double figures for the seventh time in eight games after missing six games between November 19 and December 17. 
• Toney is seventh in school history with 1,566 points. Next up on NJCU's all-time list: Eric Moore with 1,587 points (1976-80). Toney scored in double figures for the 77th time in 98 career games. 
• Toney has 204 career three pointers and is six shy of becoming NJCU's all-time leader. Former All-American Dana John owns the record with 209 career threes (209-580, .360) from 2005-08.
• Tarique Holmes scored in double figures for the second time in an NJCU uniform.
• Denzel Banks snapped a three-game drought and scored in double figures for the nine time this season and for the 23rd time in 42 career games.
• Combined with the NJCU women's 69-57 victory over Stockton, the Gothic Knights swept Stockton in Galloway on the same day for the first time since November 29, 1993—a 61-57 for the men and 66-59 victory for the women.
• NJCU was playing without two key post players. Sixth-man and junior power forward Jahmere Calhoun, who is a member of the U.S. Air Force reserve and had weekend training in the Air National Guard, missed his first game. Rookie center Michael Clement missed his second game this week with an injury.

UP NEXT:

• NJCU heads to Mahwah, N.J. to face archrival Ramapo College in NJAC action on Wednesday, January 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Bill Bradley Center. RCNJ is 7-7 (3-4 NJAC).

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