Breakout Night for Cremo Propels Men's Basketball to Third-Straight Home Win, 74-73 Over NJIT

ALBANY, N.Y. – Freshman Joe Cremo scored 18 points Friday night to send University at Albany men's basketball (3-3) to a 74-73 victory over NJIT (3-3) at SEFCU Arena. The Scotia product shot 6-for-7 from the field and recorded just one turnover.

“I'm just trying to do anything I can,” said Cremo. “I want to do all the little things. Tonight the shots were going in, and I was being aggressive. We work on getting guys open looks, and tonight it just happened the shots were going in so it felt good.”

Both teams started the game slow, with the first points coming at the 16:30 mark of the first half. NJIT and UAlbany combined to go 0-for-7 from the field with five turnovers before the Highlanders took a 2-0 lead on a Ky Howard lay-in.

Evan Singletary stepped up to tally five of UAlbany's first seven points. The senior point guard went 2-for-2 from the line in the early going with a timely three for the Purple & Gold's first lead, 7-6.

The Danes and Highlanders went back-and-forth mid-way through the first half. Four-straight points from Jamir Andrews on two-point jumpers put UAlbany up three, 15-12; but NJIT responded with an 8-2 run including two threes to regain a 20-17 edge.

Brown & co., went 4-for-5 from the field to close out the first half, featuring seven points from Cremo. NJIT countered with its sixth and seventh threes of the period to knot the game at 33 at the break.

Cremo and Singletary teamed up for 20 of UAlbany's 33 points in the first half, contributing to a 54.5% (12-22) clip from the field through the first 20 minutes.

The Highlanders returned from the locker room to take a five-point advantage with less than three minutes gone in the second half. NJIT kicked off the stanza 4-for-4 from the free throw line and 3-for-5 from the field to capture its largest lead of the game, 45-39 at the 15:36 mark.

The Purple & Gold began to chip away at the lead courtesy of a traditional three-point play from Richard Peters, and the second-half emergence of Ray Sanders. Sanders went for a steal and the bucket with 13:08 to play to tie the game at 47.

Aggressive play on defense continued to pay off for Will Brown's squad. Cremo collected an offensive rebound and converted on the put-back with less than 12 minutes to play for the 11th tie of the game. The freshman went on to score seven-straight points.

But NJIT did not go away quietly, as Damon Lynn netted one of his five threes in the second half for a 52-52 tie with 10:41 to play.

Sanders went offense-to-defense again with nine minutes remaining. The senior co-captain went for an and-one opportunity thanks to a key find from Mike Rowley for a 57-54 UAlbany edge. Sanders then grabbed a steal, but Lynn again elevated for a timely three to re-tie the game.

The Danes would not lose the lead again for the remainder of the game, thanks in part to a 6-for-6 clip from the charity stripe over three minutes. Three straight offensive rebounds kept possession with UAlbany, while NJIT tallied just one field goal in seven minutes.

Despite a comfortable five-point lead with two minutes to go, a turnover at midcourt led to a Lynn three with 1:18 to play. Singletary drove the lane on the ensuing possession to re-take a three-point lead, 73-70. Lynn knotted the game at 73 moments later.

With eight seconds on the clock, Peter Hooley went the length of the court to get fouled under the basket. The senior co-captain made one of two free throws for a 74-73 Danes lead with 1.2 seconds on the clock.

After NJIT advanced to its offensive end, Peters stepped in to deflect the in-bounds pass, insuring a UAlbany victory.

“This was a good win for us,” said head coach Will Brown. “It's important to defend your home court and win at home. We want to keep our fans interested, and it would've been easy to hang our heads. Hopefully we can build off of this against a very good Yale team on Sunday.”

UAlbany received a 32-point contribution from its bench, as well as 36 points in the paint. In a season-high, the Danes shot 53.2% (25-47) from the field, but also committed a 2015-16-high 16 turnovers. Brown's squad has now won eight-straight games at SEFCU Arena, dating back to Feb. 17, 2015. There were 11 lead changes and 15 ties in Friday's contest.

Joe Cremo led UAlbany scorers with 18 points, shooting 6-for-7 from the field and 2-for-3 from three-point range. The freshman committed one turnover.

Ray Sanders finished with 15 points, including 13 in the second half. Evan Singletary went for 14 points.

In the frontcourt, Mike Rowley brought down a career-high 10 rebounds to go with a career-best five assists. The sophomore also registered two blocks in the win over the Highlanders. Richard Peters went for near career-highs in points and rebounds, recording seven and seven.

Next up, UAlbany men's basketball hosts Yale (3-2) on Sunday at 2:00pm.