WAYNE, N.J (1/18/23) – Letrell West and Griffin Barker combined for 45 points as the Kean University men's basketball team dropped a New Jersey Athletic Conference road contest to William Paterson University, 70-63 on Wednesday evening.

Shawn Summers Jr. notched 26 points for the Pioneers who improve to 9-8 overall and 3-7 in the NJAC. West tallied 27 points for the Cougars who fall to 13-4 overall and 6-4 in the NJAC.

Barker and West combined for 13 of the Cougars 20 first half points as Kean posted an extremely poor shooting percentage from both the floor (24.2%) and downtown (7.7%) to trail by six at halftime. Despite the Cougars staying within striking distance, Paterson held the lead for the entire opening stanza with poor shooting from both the floor (31.3%) and downtown (12.5%) as well.

The Pioneers opened the second half with a 14-2 run to extended their halftime lead to the largest of the game at 40-20 with 15:56 remaining. Paterson maintained their double-digit lead for nearly the rest of the game despite Kean cutting the lead to single digits twice inside the final five minutes.

Barker finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Jailen Jamison tallied six points and six assists.

Head Coach David Turco and the Cougars will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 21^st, in Newark, N.J. against the Scarlet Raiders of Rutgers-Newark at 6:00 p.m.