WAYNE, N.J. (11/21/23) – D.J. Alicea tallied a career-high 20 points, including 18 in the first half as the Kean University men's basketball team earned a 71-63 victory over William Paterson University in their New Jersey Athletic Conference Opener on Tuesday evening.

HOW IT HAPPENED!

• The Cougars torched the nets in the opening stanza, shooting 56.7% from the floor and 50.0% from downtown for a 22-point halftime advantage at 42-20.
• Kean opened on a 14-6 run behind seven points from Brandon Upshaw.
• Alicea and Griffin Barker scored the bulk of the Cougars first half points.
• Alicea scored 18 first half points, including knocking down four triples.
• Barker notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
• The Cougars finished the first half on a 31-14 run that included 16 points from Alicea and eight from Barker over the final 12 minutes.
• The Cougars opened the second half going 4-for-5 and pushing their lead to the largest of the game at 52-24.
• Paterson made things interesting with an 18-7 run that cut Kean's advantage down to 57-42 with just over nine minutes to play.
• The Pioneers would bring the lead all the way down to single digits inside a minute to play, but didn't get any closer as WPU missed four shots in the final 30 seconds.

INSIDE THE BOX

• Barker totaled 16 points and 12 rebounds.
• Upshaw finished with 14 points.
• Phil Brown Jr. totaled 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
• Trey Harts tallied seven points and two rebounds.

UP NEXT

• Kean hosts Ramapo on Nov. 29^th at 7:30 pm