UNION, N.J. (11/15/11) – Sophomore forward Kyle Latorre scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Kean University men's basketball team to a 70-50 season-opening victory over Delaware Valley College on Tuesday evening.

Senior guard Andrew Kirey added 11 points for the Cougars (1-0), while junior guard Jonathan Jernigan came off the bench to score 14 points to lead the Aggies (0-1).

Kean took a 13-12 lead nine minutes into the game, before rattling off 10 straight points to take a 23-12 lead with 7:09 remaining in the first half following a three-pointer by sophomore Kenny Pace.

After the Aggies pulled to within 25-17 on a three-pointer by Nathan Bollinger with less than five minutes in the half, the Cougars again pushed the lead back to 12 points at 29-17 and 31-19, before the Aggies scored the final six points of the half to cut the lead in half at 31-25.

Latorre had 13 points in the opening half, while senior Leigh Keenan had seven points, four rebounds and three steals for Kean.  Bollinger led the Aggies with eight points. 

The Cougars scored the first nine points of the second half to build a 15-point lead at 41-25 a pair of Latorre layups sandwiched a layup and three-pointer by Kirey in the first five minutes of the half.

Kean would follow with seven unanswered points to extend the lead to 47-29 on the layup by freshman Thomas Gambino and would lead by as many as 25 points on a pair of occasions en-route to the 20-point victory. 

Latorre hit 7-of-9 free throws and added five rebounds and two steals in the victory.  Sophomore guard Michael Burton grabbed a team-high six rebounds and had three steals, while junior Anthony Gibson dished out a game-high four assists.

For the Aggies, junior forward Daulton Derr had 11 points and junior forward Jeremy Beckett grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.