Box Score

CAMDEN, N.J. (Dec. 6, 2014) – The Rutgers University-Camden men's basketball team rallied from a one-point deficit in the last minute, taking the lead for good on a layup by senior guard Wyatt Polk (Haddonfield, NJ/Haddonfield Memorial) with 29 seconds remaining, and went on to defeat Kean University, 70-64, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game here Saturday afternoon.
 
Rutgers-Camden improves to 4-2 overall and 2-2 in the NJAC with only its second win in the last 15 games against Kean. The Cougars lead the all-time series, 54-21.
 
Kean falls to 0-6 overall and 0-4 in the NJAC.
 
In a back-and-forth game which saw the Raptors leading by 30-27 at halftime, Kean built a second-half lead of nine points (55-46) before went on a 13-2 run to regain the lead at 59-57 with 4:22 remaining. Senior guard K.J. Brown (Sicklerville, NJ/Living Faith Christian Academy) scored the final five points in that run, while Polk notched four of his game-high 25 points.
 
Kean, however, recovered and grabbed a 64-63 lead with 53 seconds remaining on a pair of foul shots by sophomore forward Lincoln Holley (Easton, PA/Easton).
 
Moments later, one of the key plays occurred after Brown missed a three-point attempt and sophomore center Matt O'Keefe (Sicklerville, NJ/Paul VI) won the scramble for a key rebound. The ball worked its way to Polk, who put the Raptors ahead to stay with a layup, got fouled and tacked on a foul shot with 29 seconds left for a 66-64 lead.
 
After a missed layup by the Cougars, Polk grabbed the offensive board, was fouled and sunk a pair of free throws to make it a 68-64 game. Brown added two foul shots in the final seconds for the 70-64 margin.
 
Polk finished 9-for-18 from the floor and 7-for-9 from the foul line to produce his fourth game of the season with 25 of more points. He is averaging 23.8. He missed his first two foul shots in the first half, snapping a string of 24 consecutive successful free throws, leaving him tied for the program record with Rutgers-Camden Hall of Famer Bill Bramble, who accomplished that feat Feb. 3-12, 1966.
 
In a tight first half, the Scarlet Raptors broke a 27-27 tie with five seconds left on a free throw by junior guard/forward John Tatem (Camden, NJ/Pennsauken Tech). His second foul shot was missed and tipped back in by freshman forward Abby Bah (Haddonfield, NJ/Haddonfield Memorial), giving Rutgers-Camden a 30-27 lead at the break.
 
In addition to Polk, the Raptors received 10 points from Tatem and nine from O'Keefe. O'Keefe and Polk grabbed nine rebounds apiece to tie for game-high honors as the Raptors held a 44-32 advantage off the boards. O'Keefe tied his career scoring high, accomplished three times, and set a career high in rebounds, passing  the seven he had against Immaculata on Nov. 15.
 
Junior guard Tommy Soulias (Milltown, NJ/Spotswood) poured in 20 points for the Cougars, including 14 in the second half. Senior guard J.J. Hladik (Bayonne, NJ/St. Peter's Prep) added 17 points, while Holley scored 12 and had a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Both teams return to NJAC action with 8 p.m. home games Wednesday. Kean faces Rutgers-Newark, while Rutgers-Camden battles Richard Stockton College, which is currently ranked No. 8 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 national poll.