Cougars Overcome Early First Half Deficit, and then Blitz Lions in 2nd Half for Win
EWING, NJ–In a game that featured five former players from the GMC, and another former standout at Middlesex County College, Kean had four different former GMC standouts get into the scoring column as it rolled to a 72-48 victory over The College of New Jersey in NJAC action on Wednesday night. Former South Plainfield standout and 1,000 point scorer, Mike Burton led the charge for the winners with a game high 19 points while teammate, J.J. Hladik of St. Peter’s Prep, netted five threes including four in a row in the second half for 15 points.
Former Spotswood standout, and 1,000 point scorer, Tom Soulias chipped in with 14 points including seven during a rally in the first half. Carteret’s Xavier Fuller, who is one of the most improved players in the New Jersey Athletic Conference so far this season, added 9 including six in the second half. East Brunswick’s Mike Summerer also got into the act with a outback in the final two minutes of the first half for his only points of the game while TCNJ’s Darius Griffin, who played high school hoops at Bishop Ahr, capped the 14-9 start to the game for the Lions with a bank shot from the right side. So, in total, five different former GMC standouts broke into the scorebook in this contest.
Bobby Bracket of Lawrence, NJ, led all TCNJ scorers with a team high 11 points while Alex Fox chipped in with 7. Ridge’s Eric Klacik chipped in for the Lions with 6 points on 2 of 5 shooting, and 2 of 2 from the line. For the game, Kean shot 29 of 60 overall from the floor for 48.3 percent including 9 of 19 from beyond the arc for 47.4 percent. Hladik alone was 5 of 6 from downtown for the Cougars. Meanwhile, TCNJ was only 14 of 47 for 29.8 percent including a 3 of 13 showing from beyond the arc. Kean outscored TCNJ from long range by a 27-9 margin. The College of New Jersey did bridge the gap a bit with a better showing at the foul line by shooting 17 of 25 for 68 percent versus only 5 of 12 by Kean for 42 percent.
Burton made 7 of 12 shots overall from the field including 3 of 7 from beyond the arc while Soulias attacked the basket often, and ended up 6 of 11 from the floor and 2 of 4 from the line. Fuller added a 4 of 5 showing from the floor. The four GMC players that played for Kean in this contest combined to shoot 18 of 30 from the field (60 percent). Kean outrebounded TCNJ by a 39-33 margin including an 11-9 edge on the offensive boards. Fuller had a team high 9 boards for Kean while Brackett had a game high 11 rebounds for TCNJ. The Lions attacked early in this game by scoring 14 of the first 23 points over the first 10 minutes of the game. Then, the Cougars responded with a 17-5 run over a span of about 6 minutes to take a 26-19 lead. Soulias scored seven points during this stretch while Burton added several scores as well.
After TCNJ closed to within five on a 4-2 run consisting of two pairs of free throws, Kean ended the half with a 10-4 spurt that included a outback by Summerer and a free throw by Fuller for a 38-27 advantage at the half. Burton had 16 points at the half while Soulias had 7, Fuller had 3, and Summerer 2 for Kean. In the second half, the Cougars outscored the Lions by a margin of 34-21 as J.J. Hladik lit things up with four straight threes that highlighted a 22-4 barrage over the first 10 minutes or so of the half for a 60-31 lead. Hladik hit from all angles after Soulias (two FGs) and Fuller (a layup) combined to open the half for Kean with the first six points for a 44-27 lead at the 18:12 mark. From there, both teams cleared their benches, and TCNJ outscored Kean the rest of the way by a 17-12 margin to shape the final score.
With the victory, Kean improved to 4-1 overall on the season and 2-1 in the NJAC while TCNJ dropped to 1-6 overall on the year including an 0-3 mark in conference play. Kean is 3-0 all time in games covered by GMC Hoops while TCNJ slips to 0-7. See some highlights and a slideshow courtesy of GMC Hoops. Stats provided by Kean Athletics.