UNION, N.J. (12/3/14) – The Kean University men's basketball team came back from a 59-44 deficit with only 12 minutes to go but could not hang on as the Cougars fell to Ramapo College 72-68 on Wednesday night.
Over the first 12 minutes of the game, the Roadrunners came out shooting 13-of-15 from the floor to open up a 31-17 advantage.
Once Ramapo returned to a sustainable rate of shooting the Cougars closed the gap. Lincoln Holley's traditional three-point play with less than two minutes to go in the first cut the lead to 10, and then Kevin Grek found J.J. Hladik underneath the hoop for a reverse lay-in that made the cushion eight.
Kean attempted 17 three-pointers in the first half, and made just four of them though most of them were good looks. With just a little more luck the halftime score would have been even tighter.
In the second period, Holley got a great feed from Tommy Soulias and made a tough fast-break lay-in while being fouled with 13 minutes to go.
At the 10-minute mark, Grek nailed a deep trey to bring Kean within single digits again. Then with five minutes remaining, Hladik stripped the ball and fed Soulias, who made the fast-break layup while getting fouled. He completed the old-fashioned three-point play to whittle the lead down to just four.
After a stop on the next possession, Emmanuel Omowole hit two free throws. With 3:38 on the clock, Soulias found Holley (pictured left) open in the corner for a three-pointer that gave the Cougars their first lead of the night, 66-65 as the hosts completed the impressive comeback.
Ramapo answered and went back ahead by two with a minute to go. Kean came up with a big defensive stop, but with a chance to tie it could not get the shot to fall. The Roadrunners inbounded the ball with nine seconds to go, and made both free throws to clinch the matchup. They improved to 3-2 on the year and 1-2 in the NJAC. Kean is now 0-5 and 0-3 in the league.
The Cougars will head to Rutgers-Camden on Saturday for another NJAC matchup with the Scarlet Raptors at 2 p.m.
