December 28, 2014

EASTON, Pa. - Sophomore Nick Lindner did not miss from the free-throw line down the stretch, knocking down all eight of his foul shots in the final minute to help the Lafayette men's basketball team to a 76-71 victory over NJIT on Sunday afternoon inside Kirby Sports Center.

The win completes the first unbeaten home non-conference slate since 2003-04 for the Leopards (8-3) and is just the third time since entering the Patriot League in 1990-91 that Lafayette has gone undefeated at home entering league play. Coupling with the 5-0 start for the women's side, Sunday's win marks the first season since entering the league where both teams have begun Patriot League action with no losses at home.

"For having off as long as we did, I thought we did a pretty good job today given the circumstances against a very good basketball team that's comfortable playing on the road," head coach Fran O'Hanlon said.

Senior captain Seth Hinrichs led four Leopards in double-figure scoring with 18 points to go along with eight rebounds and four steals. Classmate Dan Trist dropped in 17 points, while senior Joey Ptasinski and Lindner added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Lafayette went 25-for-55 from the floor (45.5%), 6-for-19 from beyond the arc (31.6%) and 20-of-23 from the charity stripe (87.0%).

"It's good to end the non-conference slate with a win," Hinrichs said. "NJIT has a similar style to Army in terms of the Princeton offense, so I think that prepares us well for Wednesday."

NJIT's Damon Lynn led the offense with 24 points, while Tim Coleman tallied 14 and Ky Howard added 11. The Highlanders (5-9) shot 41.7 percent from the field (25-of-60) and just 19.2 percent from three-point range (5-for-26).

After a slow start that saw just one ball through the basket over the opening three minutes, the Leopards' offense finally got going from a familiar source. Ptasinski drilled a triple from the top of the key for the first Leopard points after four minutes of play and Hinrichs added a put-back bucket to put the Maroon and White in front, 5-2, early.

The Leopards edged their lead to as many as six at 11-5 midway through the half, but NJIT came back as a long triple from Lynn on the left wing sparked seven straight for a 12-11 advantage for the visitors. The Highlanders would hold that lead for all of about five seconds as sophomore Monty Boykins responded with a strong drive to the hoop to spark six straight for Lafayette, putting the Leopards back on top, 17-12 with under 10 to play in the first.

Junior Zach Rufer, making his first start of the season, finished through a foul with 5:17 to play in the half to open the lead to its largest of the game at eight, 25-17. However, NJIT responded again with five straight to cut the edge to three at 25-22 and the game went into the break with the Maroon and White on top, 33-31.

Lafayette came out with a renewed sense of purpose in the second stanza as a bucket on the block from Trist was followed up by a triple from Rufer in the right corner as the Leopards extended their advantage to seven at 38-31. NJIT responded yet again with six straight of its own to pull within one, but buckets from Trist and Ptasinski pushed it back out to five at 42-37 with 15:27 remaining.

With 13:13 to play, a Shustov finish above the rim forced a Lafayette timeout with the lead at just two, 45-43. A perfectly executed play out of the break was finished off  by Trist, sparking seven straight to push the edge back out to nine at 52-43 with under 12 minutes to go.

A Hinrichs block on one end and a Ptasinski triple on the other helped move the Leopards into the under-eight media timeout with their largest lead, up 11, 61-50. Sloppiness from both sides defined the ensuing couple of minutes as NJIT slowly crept back into it, moving under the four-minute mark down just six, 63-57.

The visitors continued their surge as four free throws moved them within a bucket at 63-61 with three minutes to go and the Highlanders stuck around throughout the final minutes, forcing the Maroon and White to hit their free throws to seal the victory with a final score of 76-71.

Next up for Lafayette is a trip to West Point, N.Y. to open up Patriot League play at Army on Wednesday evening. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.