NEWARK, N.J. -- NJIT's Tariq Francis and Sebastian Robinson combined for 28 second-half points and 42 points in all during a 69-64 victory by the Highlanders (2-9) over the Navy (3-7) men's basketball team, Saturday afternoon at the Bloom Wellness Center in Newark, N.J.  

Donovan Draper set a career high with 22 points and tied a career best with 16 rebounds for Navy in the decision.

"I thought our players played really hard tonight," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "We just didn't play well.  Defensively, we were better in the first half than the second.  They (NJIT) are a talented team. Their two guards (Francis and Robinson) are very talented.  We talked about that for several days. Those two kids beat us.  We couldn't contain the ball well."

Navy took a 20-12 lead eight minutes into the game, but the score would be tied at 20, 23 and 25, then the teams went into halftime with the score knotted at 33.

Draper neared a double-double in the opening half as he totaled 12 points and 8 rebounds.

The Mids took a 40-35 lead five minutes into the second half.  The Highlanders responded with a 14-4 run to build a 49-44 lead with just over 10 minutes still to play.  All 19 of those points were scored by either Francis or Robinson.

Navy chipped away at the deficit and drew to within one point at 51-50 on a basket by Draper with 7:43 showing on the clock.

Francis scored six of the next eight NJIT points as the Highlanders quickly took a 59-52 lead with 4:29 still to play.  The Mids were 1-6 from the field in that span.

The NJIT cushion eventually grew to nine points at 63-54, then the Mids were able to slice it down to four points at 65-61 with 46 seconds left. Francis was fouled two seconds later and made both free throws to make it a two-possession game at 67-61.  Navy had four shots on its next time down the floor and came away with an empty trip, then was forced to foul with 20 seconds remaining.  Levi Lawal missed both free throws, but Navy was one shot and done on the ensuing opportunity.

Navy made just 32.5 percent of its field goal attempts, which included a 6-30 (20.5%) mark from three-point range.  The Mids did a great job of crashing the boards, but their 21 offensive caroms resulted in only 10 second-chance points.  

"We shot poorly again tonight," said DeChellis.  "It is really challenging to win games when you get an open three with a good guy shooting the ball and it just doesn't go in.  It is challenging to win when we shoot 33 percent from the field and 20 percent from three.  We just didn't make many perimeter shots.  We had some guys get wide open looks that I know they can make and I have seen them make.  We just didn't make them tonight.  We had 21 offensive rebounds but only 10 second-chance points.  That's hard to do.  The ball didn't go in the basket for us." 

Navy also failed to convert after turnovers as it totaled just six points after the 10 NJIT turnovers.  The Highlanders scored four points and the five turnovers committed by the Mids.

NJIT finished the game with an overall shooting effort of 47.5 percent.  The Highlanders also struggled from long range as they were only 3-15 (20%) in their three-point attempts.  NJIT tallied nine second-chance points after its 10 offensive rebounds.

Francis scored 17 of his 23 points after halftime while Robinson registered 11 of his 19 points in the second half.  The pair was 11-24 from the field after halftime and the rest of the NJIT team was 2-3.

"Credit to them (NJIT)," said DeChellis.  "I told our team we were playing a hungry team. They haven't played at home in awhile and have played just two home games this year.  They have been playing better of late and their two guards were very good.  They made tough shots."

Draper bettered his career high for points by one.  It was his first double-double of the year and the 11th since he joined the team at the start of the 2023-24 season.  He was 10-17 from the floor and snared a career-best seven offensive boards.

"I thought Draper did a good job," said DeChellis.  "He was really active in there and drove the basketball and got to the rim."

Navy will next be in action Dec. 15 when it plays at Virginia Tech.