Box Score UNION, N.J. – Rutgers University-Newark senior swingman
Christian Garcia netted 17 of his 18 points in the second half but Kean University held off the Scarlet Raiders for a 58-55 New Jersey Athletic Conference win in the Harwood Arena.
A dunk by Scarlet Raider junior forward
Jordan McDaniel knotted the score at 45-45 with 6:17 left, but the Cougars would answer with a layup by senior guard Emmanuel Omowole and a 3-point jumper by senior guard J.J. Hladik to take the lead for good.
Garcia scored on a layup with just three seconds left then made a steal on the ensuing inbounds play and dropped in another layup with one second remaining to slice the Raiders' deficit to 57-55. But the Rutgers-Newark would not get another chance as Kean junior guard Mike Diamond added a free throw with no time left on the clock to register the final score.
Garcia barely missed a double-double by adding a game-high nine rebounds and four steals while senior guard
Chris Foreman and junior forward
David Azoroh tallied 14 points apiece. Foreman, who knocked down four of the Raiders' six 3-point jumpers, added five rebounds while Azoroh came off the bench to tie Garcia for game honors with nine rebounds.
Hladik led all scorers with 19 points, dropping in four of nine shots from beyond the arc for Kean, while Omowole contributed 15 points and a game-high six assists.
Foreman drained all of his treys in the opening half to help the Raiders seized a 27-13 lead. A Foreman layup with 3:54 left in the period provided the biggest lead of the game before the Cougars closed out the half with a 12-1 run to trim their halftime deficit to 28-25.
The loss snapped the Raiders' 5-game winning streak while Kean (1-6, NJAC 1-4) notched its first win of the year while recording its third straight win over Rutgers-Newark (8-2, NJAC 3-2).
Rutgers-Newark hosts Richard Stockton in a key NJAC doubleheader on Saturday. The Raider women take on the Ospreys at 6 p.m. with the men's game tipping off at 8 o'clock. The Stockton men (9-0, NJAC 4-0) lead the NJAC while the Raiders tumbled into fourth place with tonight's loss.
