NEWARK, N.J. (2/20/10) - The Kean University men's basketball team closed out the 2009-10 season with a 61-44 loss to Rutgers-Newark in the first-round of the New Jersey Athletic Conference playoffs. Junior Jonathan Jones (Linden, N.J.) led the third-seeded Cougars (9-16) with 14 points and 15 rebounds for his 18th double-double of the season. For Rutgers-Newark (20-6), the second-seed in the North Division, senior forward Deshawn Singleton (Passaic, N.J.) scored a game-high 21 points.

Jones scored the first four points of the game before the Scarlet Raiders followed with the game's next 18 points, building an 18-4 lead on a three-pointer by senior guard James Johnson (Summit, N.J.) with 13:02 remaining.

After the Cougars trimmed the Scarlet Raider back to single digits, Rutgers-Newark would again lead by 14 points on two more occasions before taking an 11-point lead into halftime with the 35-24 edge.

Johnson led the Scarlet Raiders with 14 first-half points, while Jones paced Kean with 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

A lay-up by Kean senior guard Vinnie Darpino (Colonia, N.J.) to open the second half would pull the Cougars back within single-digits, however Rutgers-Newark scored the next four points and would maintain a double-digit lead the rest of the way to advance to the NJAC semifinals, where they face Richard Stockton College, the NJAC South Division top-seed.

Darpino closed out his Kean career with 14 points, while senior Brian Lytle (Union, N.J.) had eight points.