NEWARK, NJ – Senior guard James Johnson scored 12 of his 17 points to fuel an early 18-0 run which carried Rutgers-Newark past Kean in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournament in The Golden Dome.
Rutgers-Newark 61, Kean 44
The Scarlet Raiders (20-6) advance to Wednesday's semifinal round at defending NJAC Champion Richard Stockton (19-6) at 7 p.m. in Pomona. Ramapo (18-8) earned a trip to top-seeded William Paterson (23-2) on Wednesday with a 62-60 win over Rowan (16-8) in Glassboro this afternoon.
Johnson drained four 3-point shots and senior guard De'Vion Manning added another long-range bomb as the Raiders answered an early 4-0 lead by the Cougars (9-16) with a vengeance. Rutgers-Newark knocked down five of seven trey attempts during the spurt which ended with Johnson's final dagger just seven minutes into the contest.
Kean junior forward Jonathan Jones, who led the Cougars with 14 points and 15 rebounds, hit a jumper with 1:54 left in the opening period to cut the deficit to 31-22.
After the Raiders took a 35-24 lead to the locker room at the half, senior guard Vinnie Darpino hit a layup in transition to cut the Raider lead to nine, but a pair of free throws by senior forward Deshawn Singleton and a jumper by senior guard Tim Smith on an feed from Singleton pushed the lead back to double-digits – where it stayed for the rest of the night.
Singleton led all scorers with 21 points, hitting eight of 14 from the floor and five of eight from the free throw line, while Johnson chipped in six rebounds for the Raiders. Smith had nine points, six rebounds and two assists.
Darpino netted nine of his 14 points in the second half, but a smothering Raider defense limited the Cougars to 22.6% field goal accuracy for the period. Senior forward Akinwande Oshodi added seven rebounds, five points and a game-high three blocked shots for Kean while senior forward Brian Lytle totaled eight points and three rebounds.
Rutgers-Newark extended its school-record for victories in a season to 20. Under ninth-year head coach Joe Loughran, the Raiders won 18 games in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 before eclipsing that mark with a regular-season ending, 65-49 win over Ramapo.
Ironically, the Cougars had defeated Rutgers-Newark, 70-57, on January 23 when the Raiders missed all 22 of their 3-point attempts. That loss dropped the Raiders to 3-4 in league play and 13-6 overall. After the early 3-point explosion tonight, Rutgers-Newark made just one of 12 shots from beyond the arc for the rest of the evening.
With the victory, Rutgers-Newark reeled off its seventh straight win and advanced to the semifinal round for the fifth time in as many tournament appearances since 2004-05.
Kean bowed out in the opening round of the NJAC playoffs for the third consecutive season.
NOTE: Rutgers-Newark students with valid university I.D. cards can sign up for a free bus trip to the Richard Stockton semifinal game on Wednesday. Bus seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at The Golden Dome Front Desk starting Monday morning!
