Men's Hoops Falls to MSU, 77-63

Montclair, N.J. (1/7/12) – Sophomore guard Michael Burton scored a team-high 19 points but it wasn’t enough as the Kean University men’s basketball team fell to host Montclair State University, 77-63, in NJAC action on Saturday afternoon.

Senior Andrew August scored a game-high 20 points to lead Montclair State (13-3, 3-1 NJAC).

Kean (2-12 overall, 1-3 NJAC) led for the most of the opening seven minutes of the first half. The Cougars held their biggest lead at 10-5 with 13:31 to play.

Montclair State, which made 10 3-pointers in the game, hit seven during the first half. The Red Hawks scored 10 straight points to go ahead 15-10 with 10:38 left in the opening period. MSU increased its advantage to 36-23 at halftime.

In the second half, Kean closed the deficit to nine points four times, the last at 47-38 with 12:06 remaining. Burton scored 10 of his points and junior guard Mike Shaughnessy added nine of his 12 points in the second stanza in trying to keep the Cougars close.

Kean returns to action on Monday when they host Moravian College at 7 p.m.