UNION, NJ–On Wednesday night, GMC Hoops traveled out to Harwood Arena on the campus of Kean University to see the Cougars take on the Scarlet Raptors of Rutgers Camden. Both teams were playing in their league openers for the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). Rutgers Camden entered the contest with three straight wins for one of its best starts in years while Kean was even at .500. Two former players from the Greater Middlesex Conference were spotlighted in this game including Vinnie Darpino (Kean) of Colonia, and Richie Jean-Jacques (Rutgers-Camden) of Woodbridge.
This contest went much like our fifth college hoops game covered this year between Sussex County Community College and Middlesex County College. Like Middlesex, Kean had a huge lead at one point in the game only to see it almost completely evaporate. The Cougars, led by the efforts of Akinwande Oshodi (Florence, NJ) and Eugene Tolliver (East Orange, NJ) were able to take a 32-15 lead with just under two minutes to play in the first half. However, the Scarlet Raptors showed a lot of fight despite being perhaps lesser in overall talent. Over the final 21:50 of the game, Rutgers Camden outscored Kean by a margin of 41-27.
Kean was led by Union, New Jersey native, Bryan Lytle (6 of 9 FGs and 2 of 3 FTs), who scored a team high 14 points while grabbing 3 rebounds. Former Linden High School standout, Jonathan Jones scored only seven points (3 of 7 field goals and 1 of 2 free throws), but grabbed a game high 12 rebounds for the Cougars. Despite struggling a bit from the field (4 of 11 FGs), Darpino fought hard to get 8 points while also collecting three rebounds, an assist and a steal in a team high 30 minutes. Oshodi (4 of 7 FGs including a three pointer) scored 9 points in the first half, and 10 overall while drawing a game high three charges for Kean. For the Scarlet Raptors, Joshua Askew (4 of 10 from the floor including 3 of 7 from three point range) of Winslow Township led the way with a game high 16 points including 9 in the final 2:04 of the game that helped Rugers-Camden draw to within a single possession at the end. He even got off a last second three point attempt that went off the rim as time expired.
For the game, Kean shot 24 of 54, or 44.4 percent from the floor, and made 7 of 12 from the line for 58.3 percent. Meanwhile, Rutgers Camden connected on only 20 of 61 shots from the floor for 32.8 percent while making 9 of 18 from the charity stripe. Early on, the Scarlet Raptors really struggled from the floor shooting the basketball. Kean’s use of various zone defenses forced Rutgers-Camden to put up some really bad shots. However, the Cougars couldn’t put their NJAC South rival away. Turnovers were a big reason why as KU committed 25 versus only 19 by Rutgers-Camden. On paper, and looking at the two teams in warm-ups, it appeared that Kean had an edge in overall size and athletic ability, but Rutgers-Camden posed a much more formidable challenge than anticipated.
Although Kean led the entire way from the time that Jonathan Jones sank his baseline jumper from the right side at the 19:42 mark of the first half until the final horn, the Cougars could have won this game much more easily. KU actually scored the first six points of the game as Lytle followed Jones’ opening bucket with a layup at the 18:29 mark, and then Darpino swiped a steal and missed on a pull-up jumper, but Oshodi was there to pick up the offensive board, and put it back in at the 18:10 mark. Askew got the Scarlet Raptors on the board with a three pointer from the left wing at the 17:15 mark to make it 6-3. The Cougars then scored 9 of the next 11 points over the ensuing 5:36 including a three pointer from Tolliver for a 15-5 lead at the 11:39 mark.
The lead fluctuated between six and ten points for the next 6:37 before Kean appeared to take complete control of the contest with an 11-2 spurt including a three pointer by Oshodi at the 4:05 mark, a trey by Miami, Florida native, Diego Gutierrez at the 3:46 mark, and then Tolliver’s second three at the 1:50 mark to go up by 17. However, the Scarlet Raptors, to their credit didn’t quit. This team, which is fighting against a losing history that includes a seven year stretch with an overall record of 34-139 and a conference record of 11-82, showed a lot of heart and determination to make up for its lack of ability. Kean only had 19 total field goals in the second half while Rutgers-Camden had 19 two point field goals alone. The Scarlet Raptors were also 5 of 13 from downtown in the final 20 minutes while the Cougars were 0 of 7.
Kean was able to come away with the win though to improve to 3-2 overall, and 1-0 in the NJAC while Rutgers-Camden, which opened the season with three straight wins, falls to 0-1. A more detailed article on this game is forthcoming. In the meantime, check out the details and box score on this game courtesy of Kean Athletics. This marked only the second time that GMC Hoops saw a game involving teams from the NJAC. The first time was back in December 2007 when the site saw Corey Gilmore and the Lions of the College of New Jersey host Phil Barnes and the Scarlet Raiders of Rutgers-Newark. After seeing three of its first four college games end in blowouts, it was nice to see another close one. GMC Hoops plans more college coverage next week. Unfortunately, on Thursday night, the site was unable to get out to Hackettstown to see Centenary College take on Immaculata College due to terrible traffic on Route 206 North.