Box Score

Union, NJ---Junior Dean Hughes (Pemberton Twp., N.J.) scored 14 points, including six points in the final 23 seconds, to lead the Kean University men's basketball team to a tight 59-54 victory over The College of New Jersey in a key New Jersey Athletic Conference South Division game on Thursday evening.

After leading throughout much of the contest, the Cougars (11-9, 4-4 NJAC) regained the lead for good on a jumper by junior Vinnie Darpino (Colonia, N.J.) with just over three minutes remaining.

For TCNJ (8-10, 4-4 NJAC), junior guard Jay Frank (Brick, NJ/Brick Meorial) scored a game-high 21 points , including 16 in the second half.

After TCNJ took an early 8-2 lead, the Cougars battled back and closed the half on a 13-1 run to take a 32-22 lead at halftime, holding the Lions to just 21.6 percent shooting (8-of-37) in the opening half.

For the Cougars, junior Brian Lytle (Union, N.J.) had 10 first-half points, while junior forward Aaron Syvertsen (Midland Park, NJ/Midland Park) led the Lions with eight points and five rebounds.

The Cougars extended the lead to 12 points on their first possession of the second half, however TCNJ used a 12-1 run to regain their first lead of the second half at 42-41 with 11:04 to go in the game on a lay-up by Frank.

Over the next seven minutes, there were three more lead changes and three ties, before the Cougars took the lead for good on a jumper by Darpino with 3:02 remaining.

Kean pushed the lead back out to four points at 53-49 and the Lions pulled back within one point on two occasions in the final minute, before Hughes knocked down all four of his free throw attempts in the final 14 seconds of the contest to seal the five-point victory.

Lytle finished with 12 points and five rebounds, while Darpino added eight points for the Cougars and Hughes (pictured left) grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

For TCNJ, sophomore forward Steven Siracusa (New Providence, NJ/New Providence) had 10 points and eight rebounds.

TCNJ returns to action on Saturday, January 31 hosting Ramapo College at 3 p.m.