Moravian Claims Win To Halt Losing Skid

UNION, N.J. - The Moravian College men’s basketball team snapped a four-game losing streak and won its final non-conference game of the season, defeating Kean University, 65-54, Tuesday evening.

The Greyhounds had three players in double figures led by senior forward Eric Weaver who netted a team high 17 points to go with five rebounds. Junior center Chris Cullen tossed in 15 points and had team highs of six rebounds and two blocked shots while freshman guard Nnamdi Njoku added 11 points and three assists.

Junior forward Jonathan Jones led Kean with 21 points and a career high 22 rebounds in the game while senior guard Vinnie Darpino tossed in 17 points with three boards.

Both teams struggled early in the game with Moravian eventually scoring first on a lay-up from sophomore guard Shane Painter at 17:14. The Cougars pulled ahead 4-2 on a pair of Jones’ free throws at 16:17, but that would be Kean’s only lead of the game. Weaver hit a lay-up to tie the contest while Cullen gave the Greyhounds the lead for good, 6-4, on a lay-up with 14:49 left in the first half.

The Greyhounds led 14-6 after a three-point play from freshman center Blake English at the 11:04 mark but Kean would get within five points on four occasions, the final time at 22-17 after a lay-up from junior guard Robert Lewis wit 4:58 before the intermission. Moravian’s lead reached 11 points at the 3:29 mark when Cullen connected on a lay-up.

Moravian headed to the locker room with a 33-24 lead after shooting 12-of-33 on field goal attempts (36.4 percent), one-of-13 on three-pointers and eight-of-11 at the foul line. The Greyhounds committed just five turnovers in the opening 20 minutes while forcing Kean into 12 turnovers. The Cougars were nine-for-27 from the floor (33.3 percent), two-for-four on three-pointers and four-for-eight at the foul line, and Kean had a 23-19 edge in rebounds in the opening half.

The Greyhounds kept its lead near or above ten points for the first nine minutes of the second half, including a game high edge of 14 points, 42-28, after a jumper by Weaver with 15:15 remaining. Kean pulled within six points, 49-43, on a Jones’ free throw at 8:41 but Cullen connected on a three-pointer to put Moravian back up ten points, 55-45 with 7:06 remaining.

Jones hit a lay-up with 2:11 left that cut the Greyhounds’ edge to four points, 57-53, but Moravian responded by hitting eight-of-ten free throws in the final 1:29 to seal the victory.

The Greyhounds shot the ball better in the second half, making eight-of-16 field goal attempts, two-of-six three-pointers and 14-of-17 free throws. However, Moravian has 12 second half turnovers for a total of 17 turnovers in the game. Kean contributed to struggle shooting the ball as the Cougars were just ten-for-32 from the floor (31.3 percent), one-for-five on three-pointers and nine-for-15 at the foul line in the final 20 minutes. Kean did have a 49-26 edge in rebounds but the Cougars committed 26 turnovers.

Painter finished with nine points, six rebounds and four steals for Moravian while English had six points and two boards. Junior guard Ryan O’Donnell tossed in four points with three free throws in the final minute for the Greyhounds while senior guard Mike Zubia had three points and two boards.

Lewis finished with six points for Kean while senior forward Brian Lytle had six rebounds and two points.

Story provided by Moravian Sports Information