NEWARK, N.J. – Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) had a game-high 21 points including 17 in the second half and Malik Harmon (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) scored 17 points for the second consecutive game, but the Saint Francis men's basketball team lost at NJIT, 77-65, Tuesday night at the Fleisher Athletic Center.

The Flash (6-5) came into Newark seeking its first four-game winning streak in nearly four years and its first season with seven non-conference wins since 1997-98, but strong outside shooting from NJIT derailed those plans for Saint Francis. The Highlanders (6-8) took a 28-24 lead into halftime almost exclusively from beyond the arc. The Red Flash held NJIT to just 33.3 percent from the field in the half, but the Highlanders made six of their seven shots from three-point range.

Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) compiled his third consecutive double-digit rebounding game with 11 boards. He had six of those rebounds along with four steals in the first half. Drinnon entered the game ranked third in the NEC in both rebounds and steals per game. Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) and Drinnon each had layups in the opening five minutes to give the Flash five-point leads, and that proved to be the largest spread in Saint Francis' favor for the night.

An 18-7 run for NJIT spanning nearly nine minutes of the first half flipped the advantage to a 23-17 Highlanders' lead with 5:56 remaining. The margin remained no larger than six for the rest of the half, and Harmon's jumper with five seconds left took the teams to intermission with NJIT leading, 28-24.

The Flash won its first game this season when trailing at the half at Rutgers 10 days ago, but NJIT escaped a similar fate as it scored the first three field goals of the second half to push its lead to double digits three minutes in.

Harmon's jumper two minutes later dropped the NJIT lead back to 36-30. It also started a stretch for Harmon where he scored eight consecutive points for the Red Flash. SFU could draw no closer than six, however, as the Highlanders managed to match the Flash basket-for-basket through the middle portion of the second half.

Harmon's 17 points matched his output from the Rutgers game and ties him for his second highest scoring night of the season. He scored 20 at American in November. After Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) made two free throws to make it 48-40 with 9:17 remaining, NJIT scored on its third chance of the possession to push the lead back to double digits for good.

After the lead grew to as many as 16, the Flash pressed the issue and whittled it back to 10, punctuated by an Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) tip slam after an Ollie Jackson (Dallas, Texas/Pinkston ) steal and missed three pointer. Brown flew in from the right side and slammed the ball home with authority that drew cheers from fans of both teams.

Brown had his fourth 20-plus point game of the season and third in his past five games with his 21 points. He also had a season-high three steals. The Flash finished with 12 steals, but NJIT took advantage of 16 Red Flash turnovers with a 22-7 margin on points off turnovers. Jackson had his fourth double-digit scoring effort, finishing with 10 points.

The Flash opens NEC play Saturday afternoon at DeGol Arena against Wagner at 4:00 p.m.