NEWARK, N.J. – Jon Sheets tossed in 14 of his team-high 19 points in the first half Friday night, sparking the University of Maine to a 68-58 men’s basketball victory over the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

It was the second straight victory and the fourth in the last five contests for coach Ted Woodward’s Black Bears, who improved to 4-4.

“This is our third straight road win, which is huge,” Woodward said. “We’ve been away so much the first three weeks of the season, to be able to win four of our last five, you can see the guys growing up.”

The Highlanders, a first-year Division I program this season, slipped to 2-5.

Sheets’ late 3-pointer and 19-point effort was the difference in the Bears’ Wednesday victory at Mount St. Mary’s (Md.).

Freshman Junior Bernal contributed 11 points, three assists and two steals for UMaine, while classmate and Houlton native Mark Socoby tallied 11 points. Kevin Reed added nine points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals and Phil Tchekane-Bofia added nine points.

“The seniors have been giving us great leadership this whole stretch,” Woodward said. “Jon and Kevin made big plays when we needed them.”

Clayton Barker scord a game-high 22 points for the Highlanders, while Marc Milbourne Swan added 10.

Sheets made his first three 3-point attempts while staking UMaine to a 15-5 lead seven minutes into the contest. The hosts rallied and eventually took a 26-23 lead late in the first half.

However, Christian Cavanaugh hit a 3-pointer at the 2:16 mark to tie the game, then Sheets buried a 3 at the buzzer, giving the Bears a 29-28 halftime edge.

UMaine was forced to overcome early and frequent foul trouble.

“We had a number of guys on the bench with two and three fouls,” Woodward said of the first half.

UMaine eventually went ahead for good with a 10-4 scoring run early in the second half. Tchekane-Bofia got it started with a 3-pointer at the 16:22 mark, then Bernal and Socoby sandwiched two foul shots each around a jumper by NJIT’s Andrew Engel.

Socoby followed with a 3-pointer, then Cavanaugh converted a layup to give the Bears a 45-35 edge with 13:34 left.

“It was really a good team win, top to bottom,” Woodward said.

The Bears pushed their advantage to as many as 15 points, but New Jersey Tech stayed within striking distance.

Woodward also was pleased with the Bears’ defensive effort, which included holding NJIT to 34 percent floor shooting, including 6-for-29 from 3-point range.

“Defensively, we’ve really turned the corner,” Woodward said. “We’re taking a tremendous amount of pride in our defense.”

BLACK BEARS 68, HIGHLANDERS 58

Maine (4-4) NJIT (2-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Bruff 1 4 0 0 2 Stonkus 1 2 4

Sheets 6 13 3 4 19 Barker 7 16 22

Bernal 3 5 5 8 11 Engel 2 7 5

Reed 3 15 1 2 9 Peters 2 9 1 6

TchknBfia 3 4 2 4 9 MlbrnSwn 1 10 10

Socoby 2 5 6 8 11 Magnus 0 1 2

Cook 0 0 2 3 2 Manning 1 3 0 3

Ahvnniemi 0 0 0 0 0 Stone 1 3 2

Cvanaugh 2 2 0 0 5 Johnson 0 1 2

Milosevic 1 3 2

Totals 20 48 19 29 68 Totals 16 47 20 27 58

Maine 29 68

New Jersey Tech. 28 58

3-pt. goals – Maine (9-22): Sheets 4-9, Reed 2-9, Tchekane Bofia 1-1, Cavanaugh 1-1, Socoby 1-2; New Jersey Tech. (6-29): Barker 3-11, Manning 1-2, Engel 1-6, Peters 1-7, Magnus 0-1, Stone 0-2

Attendance: 733