CHESTER, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's basketball team fell to Kean (N.J.) University, 48-47, on a shot with under a second to play in the opening round of the Widener University Tip-Off Tournament for Autism Awareness Friday evening.
The Greyhounds, who had an 18-point advantage early in the second half, were led by senior guard C.J. Barnes, who had 12 points to go with three rebounds. Senior forward John Hargraves and junior guard Keith Otto each had nine points with Hargraves adding seven rebounds while Otto contributed two rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Junior guard Nick King had five points and six boards while junior guard Matt O'Connor, junior forward John Rigsby and freshman guard Greg Eck all had three points. Rigsby grabbed a game and career-high 13 rebounds to go with two steals while Eck had a pair of rebounds. Senior guard Mike Martino added six rebounds, three assists and two points while senior forward Addis Ralph had four rebounds and one point.
King opened the game with a three-pointer, and Otto drained a pair of free throws to push the Hounds' edge to 5-0. The Cougars came back to take a 9-8 lead before Barnes pushed the Blue and Grey back in front with a pair of free throws. Kean cut it to a 13-11 game with just over eight minutes left in the first half before a 12-0 run by Moravian capped by a three-pointer from Rigsby put the Hounds up 25-11 just two minutes later. The advantage hit 16 points, 31-15 on a jumper from Barnes with two minutes to play, and the Greyhounds headed to the locker room with a 31-17 edge.
Jumpers from Otto and Martino started the second half for Moravian and pushed the squad's lead to a game-high 18 points with just over 18 minutes remaining. The Cougars answered with a 10-0 run to get the game back into single digits before Hargraves hit back-to-back lay-ups to give the Hounds a 39-27 edge with 10:30 on the clock. Kean scored nine straight points to get within three before Otto hit a three-pointer for a 42-36 lead with 5:21 remaining. Barnes drained two free throws with 2:17 left for a 44-40 edge for the Greyhounds but back-to-back three-pointers had Kean leading 46-44. O'Connor gave Moravian the lead back with just over eight seconds to go when he drained a three-pointer; however, the Cougars scored with 0.3 seconds left to win the contest.
Moravian is slated to return to action on Saturday, November 16 in the consolation game of the Widener Tip-Off Tournament for Autism Awareness versus Bryn Athyn College at 2:00 p.m. at the Schwartz Center in Chester.
