UNION, N.J. (Jan. 15, 2022) – Junior guard JD Daniels scored on a layup with one second remaining to give the Kean University men's basketball team a 65-63 victory over Rutgers University-Camden in a thrilling New Jersey Athletic Conference game here Saturday afternoon.
 
The win lifts the Cougars to 10-4 overall and 5-4 in the conference, while the Scarlet Raptors fall to 0-12 and 0-9.
 
The teams exchanged leads four times while battling to a 35-35 halftime draw and then continued the tight pace in the second half, swapping leads nine more times after the break. Kean opened the second half with a seven-point run to grab a 42-35 advantage, but the Scarlet Raptors answered with nine straight points, taking a 44-42 lead on a trey by freshman guard Andrew Walker.
 
Kean answered with its own tray from senior guard Jailen Jamison to regain the lead before sophomore forward hit his own three-pointer as the Raptors took the lead, 47-45.
 
A pair of Cougar free throws, followed by a Daniels layup and free throws from junior guard/forward Letrell West put the home team back on top, 51-47 with 10:15 remaining. Rutgers-Camden answered with an eight-point run, taking a 55-53 lead by sophomore forward Tristan Cornish.
 
Once again, the teams swapped leads as Kean's West hit a trey for a 56-55 advantage, followed by a Raptor rally on a layup by sophomore forward Jordan Carter and a pair of foul shots by sophomore guard Jaelin Keels. That gave the Raptors a 59-56 lead with 5:42 remaining.
 
Kean rallied with the next seven points to surge ahead, 63-59, but a pair of foul shots by junior guard Jaymes Savage and a layup by Cornish tied the game at 63-63 with 53 seconds remaining. Both teams had a turnover in the last few seconds, with the key Raptor turnover coming on a steal by Cougar senior forward Nate Lyles with three seconds remaining. His steal led to the game-winning field goal by Daniels.
 
The two teams battled to a 35-35 halftime deadlock in a first half that saw four lead changes and four ties. Cornish had 14 first-half points for the Scarlet Raptors, while Savage dished out six assists in the opening 20 minutes. For Kean, West notched 12 points and four assists in the opening half.
 
West finished with 19 points and six assists for the Cougars, while Daniels added 13 points. Cornish notched 19 points for the Scarlet Raptors. Carter netted 11 and both Savage and Keels finished with nine. Savage also had a game-high six assists.
 
Kean shot 23-for-48 (47.9 percent) from the floor and 13-for-19 (68.4) from the foul line, while Rutgers-Camden was 24-for-46 (52.2) and 9-for-15 (60.0). Both teams made six treys and the Scarlet Raptors held a 27-22 advantage off the boards. Rutgers-Camden also had four more turnovers (16-12).
 
Rutgers-Camden returns to action Wednesday when it hosts Stockton in an 8 p.m. NJAC game.