New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score GAME PROGRAM/NOTES: Gothic Knight Insights feature, DAVID COLE

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University scored the first 15 points of the game and on a night where the Gothic Knights didn't shoot particularly well, their record-setting defense did enough to shut down a high-scoring John Jay College offense, in a 70-59 home opening non-conference men's basketball victory on November 19 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center on 'Coach Charlie Brown Court'.
 
NJCU remains unbeaten at 3-0 and held its third straight opponent under 60 points. John Jay (1-2), entered having averaged 89 points in its first two games of the year but was held to 30 fewer points as NJCU remained perfect all-time in the series, 16-0.
 
NJCU has limited opponents to an incredible 51.7 points per game after three contests—a year after it set a single-season school record for scoring defense at 58.3 points per game.
 
Three Gothic Knights reached double figures in the win. Junior point guard JOURDAN ROBERSON (Brooklyn, NY/University (Newark)) netted 14 points with six rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes and sophomore shooting guard KHALID MUHAMMAD (Orange, NJ/Orange) was a rebound shy of a double-double, finishing with 13 points (3-10 FG, 7-10 FT) and nine defensive rebounds with two steals.
 
Senior small forward WALIK ALBRIGHT (Jersey City, NJ/Create Charter) notched 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Sophomore power forward FARAJI JAMES (Irvington, NJ/Bloomfield Tech) chipped in seven rebounds and three assists. Junior center EDDIE BROWN (Newark, NJ/Newark East Side) had seven points (3-5 FG) in 17 minutes before fouling out.
 
NJCU's two reserve point guards also contributed. Senior JAHMILL JENKINS (Elizabeth, NJ/Elizabeth) had seven points (2-4 FG) and junior JUSTIN HARTE (Irvington, NJ/Irvington) finished with four assists.
 
In a game with a combined 64 fouls, there were 94 free throw attempts—just 11 shy of the 21-year-old Division III record of 105 in a game.
 
John Jay junior guard Korede Griffith entered the game averaging 27.0 points per game after two outings and netted a game high but was held far below his previous totals. He finished with 18 points (4-7 FG, 8-12 FT) in 28 minutes before fouling out.
 
Also for the Bloodhounds, senior guard Darryl Dennis (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream) finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and five steals, but shot 3-of-11 from the field and just 8-of-18 from the foul line. Anthony Saldarriaga chipped in nine points in 10 minutes (3-5 FG). Oshea Alexander rejected three blocks. Kris Owens matched a game-high nine rebounds but shot just 1-of-17 from the floor. His six points were far below his average of 18.0
 
NJCU struggled from the field, shooting 34.5 percent overall (20-58), including 8-of-28 in the second half, and was 4-of-20 from three-point range (.200) and 26-of-44 (.591) in a busy night on the line.
 
But NJCU's shooting woes were not as severe as John Jay's. NJCU's defense frustrated the Bloodhounds to a tune of 23.7 percent shooting (14-59), including 19.4 percent (6-31) in the first half. JJC shot a meager 2-of-21 from three-point distance (.095) while making 29-of-50 on the line.
"We didn't shoot well," noted seventh-year head coach Marc Brown. "The good thing is they shot even worse and that's what saved us tonight. Defensively we couldn't stop the penetration and gave up too many second chances."
 
"On a bad shooting night we played well enough to win. The guys had their heads down like we lost and we have a lot of work to do. If we plan on doing well in the NJAC [New Jersey Athletic Conference], we have to play better all-around basketball than we did tonight."
 
The game seemingly got away from the Bloodhounds in the first eight minutes of the first half. EDDIE BROWN scored six of NJCU's first seven points and fast break layups by Albright and Muhammad made it 13-0 before a jumper by sophomore center ANDREW MARTINEZ (Jersey City, NJ/Marist) made it 15-0 at 12:50.
 
John Jay committed eight of its 17 turnovers during that opening stretch and missed its first seven shots of the game before a fast break basket by Dennis at 11:56 gave the visitors their first points. The Knights led by no less than eight points the remainder of the period and took a 10-point, 33-23 advantage to the break.
 
NJCU was able to maintain that double figure lead through much of a lengthy second half where 39 fouls were whistled. The Knights extended the lead to as many as 15 with 11:39 left in the game on a fast break emphatic dunk by freshman forward STEVE ROBERTS (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne). The Bloodhounds drew as close as eight points (51-43) at the midway point of the half before Roberson drilled a pair of threes sandwiched around a Harte jumper to push the lead back to 14 and the Knights controlled the outcome from there.
 
NJCU opens its 2013-14 NJAC schedule on Saturday, November 19 at 3 p.m. when it visits defending conference champion Ramapo College at the Bradley Center in Mahwah, NJ.