Box Score
UNION, NJ – Junior guard Mike Shaughnessy's long 3-point jumper with 2.4 seconds left lifted Kean to a 55-53 win in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournament over Rutgers-Newark in Harwood Arena.
Scarlet Raider freshman swingman
Christian Garcia netted 10 of his 14 points in the opening half while senior guards
Pedro Burgos and
Greg Moore added 11 points apiece. Senior forward
Jeremiah Rivers netted nine points while junior point guard
Al'Don Muhammad contributed six points, a game-high six assists and a team-high seven rebounds.
Kean advances to the semifinal round at top-seeded William Paterson on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Raiders (14-12) must now wait for a possible ECAC Metro Championship bid.
In control for most of the game, R-N sputtered offensively in the middle of the second half as the Cougars caught the Raiders at 40-40 on a Shaughnessy bucket with 6:44 left. From that point, there were four ties and three lead changes.
After Shaughnessy's dagger from the right side just in front of the Cougar bench made it 54-53, sophomore forward Kyle Latorre picked off a long inbounds pass and was fouled with a second left. He made the first of two free throws before the Raiders got a last-gasp with .8 left off the defensive rebound. But another long inbounds pass failed to produce a final shot.
Latorre paced the Cougars (7-19) with 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds while Shaughnessy finished with 13 points. Sophomore guard Michael Burton netted a dozen points.
The Raiders lost in the opening round of the NJAC Championship Tournament for the first time in six trips dating back to 2005.
In the first half, the Raiders led wire-to-wire while shooting a crisp 59.1% (13-22) from the floor. Garcia came off the bench to make all four of his field goal tries plus the R-N's only two free throws of the period. Rivers was four for five while connecting on a jump shot to give the Raiders a 20-9 lead with 6:44 left in the half.
The Cougars did not allow the visitors to break away in the half, twice trimming their deficit to three points before Moore's jump shot with 21 ticks left send R-N into halftime with a 31-26 advantage. Latorre had eight points off the bench and Burton netted seven in the opening 20 minutes.
Bids for the 8-team ECAC Metro Championship will be announced on February 27.
