EASTON, Pa. – The Lafayette College men's basketball team led all afternoon Sunday inside Kirby Sports Center, but ultimately dropped a 90-86 double-overtime decision to NJIT.
 
"We competed with a very good basketball team and we had opportunities to win this game," said head coach Fran O'Hanlon. "With a young team, we didn't make some of the plays we had to make to, but we will learn from this and know that we can compete with some really good teams."
 
Sophomore Jon Brantley caught fire quickly and scored a team-high 19 points off the bench, making six 3-pointers while classmate Kyle Jenkins scored 17 with five assists and eight boards.
 
With 6:30 remaining in regulation, Brantley knocked down a 3-pointer to give Lafayette a 14-point advantage at 69-55 and a junior Neal Quinn dunk sandwiched a NJIT 3-pointer.
 
From there, NJIT outscored the Leopards 17-4 in the final 5:30 of regulation to force overtime.
 
The Highlanders were carried by Dylan O'Hearn's 42 points, playing all 50 minutes.
 
Only eight total points were scored in the first overtime period, none bigger than Jenkins' pair of free throws with just nine seconds left to tie the score and force another extra session.
 
NJIT struck first with an O'Hearn layup before Jenkins found Quinn for an easy dunk. Another O'Hearn bucket gave NJIT the lead again before Quinn worked his way to the free throw line to hit a pair.
 
O'Hearn connected on a 3-pointer before Jenkins matched it as the teams were trading buckets for the first three minutes of the second overtime period before O'Hearn was fouled twice in the final 30 seconds and hit all four free throws. He scored the Highlanders' final 15 points.
 
Quinn had his second career double-double with 15 points and 10 assists while grabbing five boards, the first Leopard to record double-digit assists since Nick Lidner in 2015. Fulton also got into double-figures with a young career-best 13 points with five rebounds.
 
Lafayette shot just under 50% from the field and made more 3-point field goals than two-point buckets. The Leopards assisted on 28-of-31 baskets, the most team assists by any Patriot League team this season.
 
The final non-conference road test is on deck for Lafayette, traveling to Delaware Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
 
For the latest on the Lafayette College men's basketball program, follow the Leopards on Twitter @LafayetteMBB and Instagram @lafayettembb.