UNION, N.J. (1/20/24) – D.J. Alicea netted a career-high 29 points as the Kean University men's basketball team dropped a New Jersey Athletic Conference contest to Rutgers-Newark, 68-63 on Saturday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED!

• After falling behind 5-0 to open the contest, Mario Gunn scored five straight points to push the Cougars to their largest lead of the game at 10-7.
• Newark put together an 18-3 run that extended their lead to double-digits at 25-13.
• The Scarlet Raiders maintained at least a seven-point lead for the remainder of the half.
• JD Daniels scored four points in the final 40 seconds as Newark held a 34-29 advantage at the half.
• Alicea opened the second half with eight points as Kean cut the Scarlet Raiders advantage to one at 43-42 with 12:40 remaining.
• Newark responded with a 17-8 run to push their lead back to double-digits at 60-48 with just over six minutes to play.
• Alicea added another six points during the Scarlet Raiders run.
• Kean outscored Rutgers-Newark over the final six minutes and cut the lead to four with 15 seconds remaining.  
• The Cougars failed to make any key stops down the stretch and Newark held on.
• Alicea finished with 21 second half points, including nine in the final six minutes.

INSIDE THE BOX

• Alicea added eight rebounds.
• Gunn finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks.
• Tyler Spencer totaled eight points and five rebounds.

UP NEXT

• Kean travels to Ramapo on Wednesday.