Box Score

EASTON, Pa. - The comeback kids were at it again on Thursday evening at Kirby Sports Center as the Lafayette men's basketball team erased a 10-point deficit with 4:31 to play to force overtime and top NJIT by a score of 84-83.

The win marks the second straight come-from-behind win as the Leopards trailed by 11 with 4:42 left on Monday in an eventual 61-57 victory at Saint Peter's. Lafayette played in front of its home crowd for the first time this season and carries a 2-1 record into the rest of a four-game homestand.

"It was obviously a great comeback in the second half. I thought we played decently in the first half, but we just couldn't score," head coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "We got it together in the second. I wish we would've gotten it done in regulation, but I guess the extra five minutes didn't hurt us."

Senior captain Nick Lindner was outstanding, posting 25 points, six assists and a career-high seven rebounds to lead the Maroon and White. The Doylestown, Pa. native went 9-of-10 from the foul line and also registered a steal in 35 minutes of action.

Junior Matt Klinewski was just as productive, recording his first double-double since Dec. 9, 2015, tallying 20 points and 11 rebounds on 9-of-20 shooting from the field. Classmate Eric Stafford also posted a career-high in assists with five, while freshman Hunter Janacek was the third Leopard in double figures in scoring with 11.

"Rebounding is one of the big keys for us every game," Klinewski said. "Our main goal at the start of preseason was to get better at our rebounding and I think we've been doing a great job these past three games."

Lafayette turned around a sluggish first-half with a scorching second stanza, hitting on 17-of-25 shots (68.0%) and 9-of-17 from beyond the arc (52.9%) in the second 20 minutes. The Leopards finished at 42.0 percent from the field (42.0%) and 11-for-33 from distance (33.3%). The important figure, though, was a 15-for-17 mark from the free-throw line (88.2%).

"It was just a matter of time," O'Hanlon added about the second-half turnaround. "Hunter Janacek and Kyle Stout came in and hit some shots for us and that kind of opened it up a little bit. When those guys can hit shots, then it opens up the middle because the defense has to stay home with the shooters, so that helped us."

After trailing for a majority of the game and NJIT moving its lead back out to seven with 5:14 remaining, Lafayette made its move out of the four-minute timeout in the second half as the Leopards rattled off 10 straight to take their first lead with 1:37 to play, 73-70. The two sides traded free throws before NJIT's Damon Lynn sunk a triple off a feed from Tim Coleman on the left wing to tie the game at 75 with 50.3 seconds on the clock.

A Lindner drive and finish at 33.9 seconds was canceled out by a pair of Coleman free throws on the next two possessions before Paulius Zalys' triple at the buzzer to win it fell off the rim as the game moved to extra time.

Fouls and free-throw shooting were the story in the overtime period as Rob Ukawuba's lay-up at the 4:20 mark to tie the game at 79 accounted for the only points not scored on the foul line in the extra frame. Lindner went 5-of-6 and freshman Myles Cherry made a pair, while NJIT's Abdul Lewis and Anthony Tarke each went 1-of-2 and Coleman went 2-for-4 to put it at 84-83 in favor of the Leopards with 35 seconds left.

NJIT got the ball back with nine seconds on the clock and a chance to win it, but Cherry came up with the defensive stop. He forced a jumper from Coleman off the back rim and secured the defensive rebound for the 84-83 victory.

Lafayette now has two wins in its first three games for the second time in five years, with the other coming in the 2014-15 season. The Leopards continue their four-game homestand on Sunday, hosting Cornell in a 2 p.m. tilt.