WAYNE, N.J. – The William Paterson men's basketball team (10-2, 5-1 NJAC) secured a 68-58 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) men's basketball victory against visiting Kean (3-9, 1-5 NJAC) Jan. 7.
The Pioneers seized control early, using five points each from senior guard Sandy Burgos (Fort Lee, N.J./Fort Lee) and junior guard Bright Mensah (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) for a 14-3 edge 7:01 into the contest. With WP ahead by a 21-13 count at the 8:57 mark, the Cougars fought back with 11 unanswered points, nine off the hot hand of junior Tommy Soulias, for a 24-21 Kean lead with 3:39 remaining.
Burgos knotted the score with a trey with 2:18 on the clock, and a steal and fast-break layup by senior guard Jaques Conceicao (Massama-Lisboa, Portugal/Francais Charle Lepierre) and another Mensah bucket made it a 28-24 score with 57 seconds left. Senior guard J.J. Hladik cut it to one with a three-pointer, but Burgos drained a 12-footer as time expired for a 30-27 William Paterson halftime lead.
Kean three times tied the score during the opening minutes of the second period, but WP scored eight straight, including a pair of treys by junior guard Manny Hernandez (Paterson, N.J./Paramus Catholic), to push ahead by a 46-38 count with 13:05 to play. The Pioneers' advantage never dipped below five for the remainder of the contest as WP shot 54.2 (13-24) percent from the field during the second half and was 26-for-52 (.500) overall.
Burgos scored a team-best 19 points for the Pioneers, and junior forward Terik Bridgeman (Harlem, N.Y./Nia Prep) finished with 12 tallies. Mensah had eight points and team highs of five rebounds and eight assists, and Hernandez contributed a season-best 11 tallies.
Soulias led all scorers with 23 points, adding a game-high eight rebounds. Hladik posted 19 tallies.
William Paterson will visit Rutgers-Newark Saturday, Jan. 10, at 8:00 p.m.
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