UNION, NJ – Junior guard Chadd Barnes had team-highs of 18 points and seven rebounds, but Kean rallied for a 75-66 New Jersey Athletic Conference win in Harwood Arena.
NCAA Box Score
Junior forward David Cherry scored all of his 16 points and grabbed four of his five rebounds in the first half as the Scarlet Raiders (12-10, NJAC 5-5) built a 32-24 lead at intermission.
Barnes and freshman guard Phil Valdez had nine points apiece in the second half to fuel the Rutgers-Newark attack, but the Cougars (8-14, NJAC 3-7) chipped away at the lead.
After Kean took its first lead of the game at 43-42 on a steal and layup by junior guard Yasien Beatty with 12:41 left, the Raiders answered with an 11-0 rally. After Barnes drained a three, Valdez hit back-to-back treys before senior guard Angel Collado capped the run exactly two minutes later with a fastbreak layup to make it 53-43. Collado finished with 13 points, five rebounds and a team-high 3 assists for the Raiders.
But the Cougars refused to fold. After a conventional 3-point play by Collado gave the Raiders a 56-46 with 9:33 left, Kean outscored Rutgers-Newark 27-10 the rest of the way.
Freshman guard Keith Williams tallied eight of his game-high 23 points during the closing run while senior guard Lamar Wright notched eight of his 17 points in the decisive rally. A 3-point play by Williams tied the score at 61-61 with 5:40 remaining and his 3-point jumper with 1:34 left put the game away at 70-63. A 3-point jumper by Barnes trimmed the Cougar lead to four before Kean dropped in five of six free throws in the final 42 seconds to win by nine.
Junior center Afolabi Ajumobi blocked three shots and grabbed six rebounds for Rutgers-Newark while sophomore forward Phil Barnes also had six rebounds to go along with four points.
Freshman forward Akinwande Oshodi had a double-double for Kean with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Beatty finished with 10 points and a game-high five assists.
Rutgers-Newark hosts New Jersey City in a key NJAC doubleheader on Wednesday. The women tip off at 5:30 p.m. with the men to follow at 7:30.
The Raiders started the day in a four-way tie for second place in the NJAC North Division along with New Jersey City, Ramapo and Montclair State. Montclair State downed Rowan, Ramapo topped The College of New Jersey and New Jersey City won at Rutgers-Camden to drop Rutgers-Newark into last place in the five-team North Division with just three games left on the schedule.
Rutgers-Newark hosts NJCU and travels to Ramapo before hosting division-leading William Paterson in its regular-season final in The Golden Dome. The Raiders probably will have to win at least two of those three games to garner on of three NJAC Championship Tournament berths. Rutgers-Newark has made three straight conference tourney fields.
