New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | In what has become a repetitive scenario for the New Jersey City University men's basketball team in the second half of the season, the Gothic Knights led William Paterson University midway through the period before succumbing to another lengthy scoring drought at the most inopportune of times, as NJCU dropped a 69-59 decision to WP in New Jersey Athletic Conference action on February 8 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (Coach Charlie Brown Court).
 
Leading 48-47 with 10:01 remaining, NJCU would not score for another 6:26—until a layup with 3:35 left stopped the bleeding of a 9-2 Pioneer run during which the Knights shot 1-of-10 from the field. During that spurt, WP shot just 2-of-8 from the floor but converted five straight free throws, which is where the visitors secured the game, shooting 27-of-40 on the day (.675), including 18-of-26 in the second half (.692).
 
The loss marks the second four-game losing streak suffered by NJCU this season after starting the year 5-0, and dips the Knights' record below .500 at 10-11, 6-9 NJAC.
 
WP clinches no worse than a home game in the NJAC Quarterfinals, improving to 17-5 (11-4 NJAC)—one game shy of first-place Rutgers-Newark and even with Richard Stockton College.
 
Furthermore, the NJCU loss created a four-team logjam in the race for the final two seeds in the six-team NJAC Tournament Field. The Knights are even with Rowan University (11-11), Montclair State University (9-12) and Ramapo College (9-13) with three conference games to go—at Montclair (February 12), vs. The College of New Jersey (7-14, 5-9 NJAC) and at Rutgers-Camden on February 19 (4-17, 2-12 NJAC).
 
However NJCU does have many tiebreakers working to its advantage despite its lackluster play of late. NJCU swept the season series from Ramapo, split with Rowan and defeated Montclair in the first meeting, giving the Knights a 4-1 ledger against the three schools it's deadlocked with.
 
The loss spoiled a career-high equaling 21-point performance from senior small forward WALIK ALBRIGHT (Jersey City, NJ/Create Charter), who moved into 23^rd place in program history in scoring with 1,058 points.
 
NJCU's top three scorers—Albright, sophomore shooting guard KHALID MUHAMMAD (Orange, NJ/Orange) and junior point guard JOURDAN ROBERSON (Brooklyn, NY/University (Newark))—all fouled out.
 
Albright shot 6-of-10 overall and after struggling from the line last week when he shot 9-of-25 in a pair of games, made 8-of-12 in this contest, as he netted 21 points for the third time in his career—all highs that have come this year. He added three assists and two steals in 33 minutes before fouling out. All five fouls came in the second half.
 
Muhammad collected 13 points (5-8 FG) and five rebounds in 23 minutes before fouling out. Senior power forward KHALID CRAWFORD-MUHAMMAD (Plainfield, NJ/Plainfield) grabbed seven rebounds in 13 minutes in a starting role and senior point guard JAHMILL JENKINS (Elizabeth, NJ/Elizabeth) had five points and four assists.
 

NOTABLE SECOND HALF FIELD GOAL DROUGHTS, 2013-14 SEASON All since starting the year 5-0
Drought Time	Last FG	Score	Next FG	Score	Date	Opponent	Opponent Run	Final Score
6:26	10:01	48-47	3:35	50-56	02/08/2014	William Paterson	9-0	L, 59-69
7:29	17:05	30-41	9:36	33-51	02/06/2014	at Stockton	10-1	L, 49-65
4:37	7:42	47-44	3:05	51-51	02/01/2014	Kean	7-1	L, 61-65
6:53	14:15	40-37	5:22	42-47	01/29/2014	at Rutgers-Newark	10-0	L, 49-51
4:08	7:37	55-48	3:29	57-55	01/22/2014	Ramapo	7-0	W, 61-60
5:26	13:13	56-44	7:47	66-58	01/18/2014	at TCNJ	14-8	L, 74-79
5:07	5:21	70-65	00:14	74-77	01/18/2014	at TCNJ	12-1	L, 74-79
7:06	5:27	35-27	3:21 OT	38-37	01/15/2014	Rutgers-Camden	10-1	W, 39-38 (1 OT)
6:19	15:02	37-40	8:43	47-53	01/11/2014	at William Paterson	13-5	L, 66-69
8:14	5:28 1H	25-22	17:14 2H	27-46	01/04/2014	at Kean	24-0	L, 50-71
4:14	14:45	29-39	10:31	31-41	12/28/2013	vs. Randolph	2-0	L, 50-62
6:43	15:25	31-30	8:42	39-51	12/07/2013	Richard Stockton	21-6	L, 51-69
5:46	12:28	46-47	6:42	48-53	12/04/2013	at Rowan	6-0	L, 59-62
3:40	3:40	58-60	None	59-62	12/04/2013	at Rowan	2-1	L, 59-62
9:06	19:51	38-36	10:45	44-62	12/01/2013	Albertus Magnus	26-4	L, 63-77
4:27	15:12	40-46	10:45	44-62	12/01/2013	Albertus Magnus	16-2	L, 63-77
Note: In the 12/7 game vs. Stockton, had only three baskets during that stretch with field goals at 14:05 and 11:54 Note: In the 12/1 game vs. Albertus Magnus, there was a field goal at 15:12 to break up the larger scoring drought

William Paterson entered the game with the top two scorers in the NJAC and while junior guard Sandy Burgos (Fort Lee, NJ/Fort Lee) and Javae King-Gilchrist (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) did combine for 36, NJCU's nationally No. 15 ranked scoring defense held each below their averages.
 
Burgos, who now averages 20.6, scored 20—7-of-12 from the field, 3-of-7 from three-point range and 3-of-5 from the line—with three assists in 36 minutes. King-Gilchrist, whose average is now an even 20.0, finished with 16 on 5-of-10 shooting and a perfect 6-of-6 free throws. He grabbed six rebounds, six steals and handed out three assists in 34 minutes.
 
Sophomore guard Bright Mensah (Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack) hauled down a game-high 11 rebounds (nine defense) but struggled offensively, shooting 0-for-7 and 2-for-7 at the stripe. Junior guard Jacques Conceicao (Massama-Lisboa, Portugal) had 10 boards (eight defensive), but shot 0-for-6. Freshman guard Zach Frick (Sparta, NJ/Sparta) had nine points—2-for-2 shooting (one three) and 4-for-4 from the line.
 
While WPU was consistent in each half—44.0 percent in the first half (11-25) and 42.1 percent in the second (8-19), NJCU's production slipped from 50 percent in the opening period (13-26) to just 6-of-30 (.200) in the final 20 minutes.
 
In a back-and-forth first half (six ties, six lead changes), the Pioneers took the early 11-6 lead abut after consecutive threes by Muhammad and junior point guard JUSTIN HARTE (Irvington, NJ/Irvington) NJCU pulled in front. Burgos, who scored 10 of the first 16 for the Pioneers, knocked down a three for a 16-15 lead and a Frick triple at the 9:03 mark allowed the guests to lead 23-18 before pushing the advantage to seven (25-18) with 7:55 to play.
 
The Knights bounced back with an 11-2 run—a layup by Crawford-Muhammad, a three by Harte, and a Jenkins triple, before three Albright foul shots put NJCU in front, 29-27. WP regained a 31-29 edge with 3:21 on the clock before NJCU outscored the Pioneers 10-3 to close the period and led by five, 39-34, at the break. Albright scored 13 in the first half (3-3 FG, 6-10 FT), and accounted for six of the final 13 for NJCU.
 
Muhammad picked up his fourth foul just 2:13 into the second half and was forced to sit much of the period. NJCU still led 43-39 on Albright's 17^th point just 2:20 into the action and he had 19 points with 13:37 to play. But WP began to slowly chip away. Back-to-back jumpers by King-Gilchrist made it a one-point game (44-43) and four foul shots by Frick and freshman forward Nick Smith (Elmwood Park, NJ/Memorial) put the Pioneers ahead, 47-46 at 12:46, as the visitors scored eight of 11 points.
 
After an offensive board and putback by junior center EDDIE BROWN (Newark, NJ/Newark East Side) gave NJCU back a one-point advantage (48-47), the Knights major scoring drought of the second half was in motion. NJCU did not score again until the 3:35 mark and the Pioneers notched nine consecutive points to build a 56-48 lead. The combined run was 17-3 since NJCU led 44-39 at 16:52. Any chance of an NJCU comeback was thwarted by consecutive baskets by Burgos, including a dagger three from the far left sideline with 2:37 to play. Roberson, fouled from beyond the arc, sank three foul shots with 38 seconds to play but WP iced it from the line with six straight free throws in the final 35 seconds.
 
NJCU will play its final non-conference game of the season, a makeup of a February 3 snow out, when it hosts Valley Forge Christian College on Monday, February 10 at 7 p.m.

NJCU MEN'S BASKETBALL 1000-POINT CLUB
Thru 2/8/2014
RANK	PLAYER	YEARS	POINTS
1.	Brett Wyatt	1975-79	2292
2.	Del Harrison	1986-90	2011
3.	Johnny Mayers	1983-87	1912
4.	Steve Wilder	1982-86	1708
5.	Mark Washington	2002-06	1600
6.	Eric Moore	1976-80	1587
7.	Andy Kemp	1976-80	1513
8.	Samar Battle	2000-04	1507
9.	Fred Douglas	1967-70	1476
10.	Abdul Madison	1993-97	1457
11.	Charles Brown *	1962-65	1324
12.	Darren Watkins	1988-92	1318
13.	Jeff Harrington	1997-01	1302
14.	Dana John *	2005-08	1281
15.	Steve Schindler *	1970-73	1254
16.	John Celentano *	1971-74	1230
17.	Bob Johnson	1968-71	1178
18.	Omar Cooper *	1994-96, 99-00	1150
19.	Ed Petersen	1962-66	1148
20.	Danel Allen *	1995-98	1091
21.	Dwayne West	1982-86	1075
22.	George Thomas	1999-03	1069
23.	WALIK ALBRIGHT	2009-12, 13-14	1058
24.	Don Brandes	1955-59	1047
25.	Ben O'Neill	1961-65	1024
26.	Stan Chapman	1977-81	1009
27.	Dave Martin	1977-81	1004
* denotes three-year career. All others are four-year players.