Men’s Basketball Drops CIT Contest to NJIT

Wednesday, March 16

Newark, NJ

7:30 PM

Army West Point

19-14

NJIT

18-14

Army West Point

NJIT

Men’s Basketball Drops CIT Contest to NJIT

March 16, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point men's basketball team's 2015-16 season came to a close on Wednesday night at the Fleisher Athletic Center with a 79-65 loss to NJIT in the opening round of the 2016 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

The Black Knights finish the year with a 19-14 record, their most victories since since the 1977-78 season. Army won 11 road games, a program record, and the Class of 2016 ended their careers with 65 wins, the most for a class since 1971.

Tanner Plomb led all scorers with 20 points, Luke Morrison added 12 and Kyle Wilson eclipsed 2,000 points for his career with seven on the night. As a team, Army struggled shooting in the second half and finished the game at 39.1 percent (25-for-64).

Terrance Smith led NJIT (18-14) with 18 points, Damon Lynn and Tim Coleman each put in 16 and Coleman had a double-double with 14 rebounds. Rob Ukawuba chipped in 13 points in the win. The Highlanders connected on 46.9 percent from the field (30-for-64).

NJIT scored eight of 10 points during a four-minute stretch early in the first half to take a 17-11 lead before a screen-and-roll between Cox and Ferguson set the Army big man up with a layup at the rim with 11:39 on the first-half clock.

Following a putback slam of a Wilson missed three by Ferguson, NJIT continued to take advantage of Army turnovers and put together a 7-2 run that started with a three by Osa Izevbuwa. The home side led 26-17 before a Luke Morrison three ball at 7:45.

The Black Knights briefly went to a 1-3-1 defense and slowly chipped away at NJIT's lead as Luke Morrison and Plomb got things going on the offensive send. Plomb's triple at 2:16 pulled Army within a point (38-37), the closest Army was since it was down 7-6 at 16:55.

Tim Coleman's jumper sent NJIT into the half with a 40-37 lead after both teams shot better than 45 percent in the period. Army was minus-three in turnovers, but held a 20-16 rebounding advantage in the first 20 minutes.

NJIT opened the second half by scoring 13 of the first 18 points and forced Army to use a timeout three minutes into the period. The Highlanders had a run of nine straight points before the stoppage, including consecutive jumpers by Izevbuwa. Two free throws by Coleman completed the 11-0 run before Toomey drew a charge and Plomb hit a straightaway three to make it a 10-point game.

Consecutive threes by Plomb and Wilson surrounding the 10-minute mark pulled Army within three at 61-58. Rob Ukawuba countered with a three on the other end, before Morrison hit another trey for Army.

Leading 66-63, NJIT scored the next seven points, capped by a wing three by Coleman to extend the lead back to 10 points before Cox fed Plomb for an alley-oop slam to bring the Army crowd to its feet with six minutes to go, but the Black Knights were held scoreless the rest of the way in the 14-point loss.

Game Notes: Kyle Wilson increased his career point total to 2,001, which ranks fourth in academy history ... Wilson is the sixth player in Patriot League history to score 2,000 career points ... Wilson hit 100 three-pointers this season, becoming the second player in Army history to reach the mark in one season (Jarrell Brown, 2007-08, 101 threes) ... Tanner Plomb scored 20 points for the 28th time in his career ... Plomb finished his career with 1,359 career points, good for 11th in Academy history ... Kevin Ferguson ended his career with 205 career blocked shots (fifth in Patriot League history) ... Ferguson moved up to 28th on Army's all-time scoring list with 1,059 career points ... Ferguson is sixth in Army history in career rebounds (728) ... Dylan Cox increased his career assist total to 479, which leads Army and ranks eighth in the Patriot League record books ... Cox finishes the seaosn with 147 assists, second only to Ron Wilson's record 162 assists in 1988-89 ... Cox ends his career ranked 32nd in school history in scoring (1,030 points) ... Larry Toomey closes his career with 125 games played, the most by any player in Army men's basketball history ... Toomey pulled down 539 career rebounds, good for 14th all-time at West Point ... freshman Cayne Edwards pulled down a season-high five rebounds.