The Maritime College men's basketball team lost its first home game of the 2019-20 season on Monday night as they fell to Kean University 70-52. In the Privateers first game back since December 8, they struggled to find their rhythm as they shot 34.4 percent from the field and 24.2 percent from behind the arc.

The non-conference matchup saw two different styles of play from both ends of the court as the Cougars preferred to move the ball inside the paint and Maritime looked for dribble penetration and shots from the outside by their prolific shooters. Brendan McGovern (Seaford, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) gave the Privateers their first lead of the game at 9-6 with his first three-point shot of the game, while Griffin McNally (Huntington Station, N.Y./Walt Whitman) kept the momentum going with a layup at 13-8 for their biggest lead of the half. The Cougars quickly regained the lead, but another McGovern three put Maritime back in the lead at 19-17.

Unfortunately, the Privateers would only score three more points for the final six minutes of the first half. Kean took advantage of the stagnant offense from Maritime and took an eight point lead into halftime. McGovern had a stellar first period as he led all scorers with 15 points, but offensive buckets continued to be hard to come by for the Privateers in the second half.

The Cougars jumped on Maritime early in the second half and they never relinquished their double-digit lead. The Privateers couldn't get their good looks from behind the arc to fall and they weren't able to manage a comeback attempt.

Nicholas Ovanessian (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) and Ryan Donovan (North Salem, N.Y./North Salem) led Maritime on the glass with eight and seven rebounds, respectively. Brennan Whelan (Northport, N.Y./Northport) and Jaylin Gray (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth) chipped in six points each while McGovern led the way with 15.

The Privateers will open up Skyline Conference play on January 4th against Purchase College at 1 p.m.