Seton Hall University
St. John's
MBB Edged by Red Storm
2/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2014
NEWARK, N.J. - The Seton Hall men's basketball team held St. John's without a field goal for over seven minutes down the stretch on Thursday at the Prudential Center, but the Red Storm scored the final four points of the game to squeak out a 68-67 win over the shorthanded Pirates.
It was the second one-point loss that Seton Hall (13-12, 4-8) has sustained at the hands of St. John's this season and their third one-point defeat in conference play. For the Red Storm (16-9, 6-6), the victory was their fourth in as many games and their first on the road in the series since the 1997-98 campaign.
Senior Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) tallied a game-high 25 points and added six rebounds while forward Patrik Auda (Brno, Czech Republic) finished with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting in 31 minutes off the bench.
Playing without usual starters Brian Oliver (Glassboro, N.J.) and Eugene Teague (Vineland, N.J.) who sat out due to a coach's decision, Seton Hall took a 67-64 lead on an old fashioned 3-point play with 3:10 left. The Red Storm's JaKarr Sampson leveled the score with a dunk at the 1:32 mark, and after an empty trip for each team, Seton Hall called a timeout in possession with 33 seconds to go. Edwin misfired on a trey out of the timeout, and then after a slick entry pass in the waning seconds, Aaron Geramipoor (Manchester, England) was forced to foul St. John's forward Chris Obekpa sending him to the line.
A 40.7 free-throw shooter entering the game, Obekpa made the first before missing the second. Then following the final stoppage, he provided a tough defensive presence on the attempted full-court in-bounds pass that prevented Seton Hall from getting up a potential game-winning shot.
The Red Storm overcame the prolonged drought by shooting 13-of-15 from the charity stripe in the final stanza, but still managed to connect on 53.2 percent (25-for-47) of their shot attempts in the contest. Junior D'Angelo Harrison led four St. John's players in double figures with 12 points - more than six below his season average of 18.3 ppg - while Obekpa, Rysheed Jordan and Sir'Dominic Pointer all finished with 10 points apiece.
St. John's jumped out ahead in the early going due in large part to hot shooting from their starting backcourt. Phil Greene IV knocked down two 3-pointers and Jordan found the mark on three mid-range jumpers, the last of which gave the Red Storm a 14-9 lead just over six minutes into the action. Seton Hall responded by rattling off eight unanswered points, a stretch that was capped by a put-back from Auda that prompted a St. John's timeout at the 11:38 mark.
The Hall continued to assert itself inside as the half progressed, challenging the top shot-blocking team in the nation by continuously attacking the rim. In all, the Pirates' first 13 made field goals came from inside the paint, a run that was punctuated by a tip-in slam by Auda that broke a 25-25 deadlock with 6:56 before the break. Edwin knocked down a straight-away three just ahead of the five minute mark to account for the team's first basket from outside the paint. The Hall went on to increase the gap to as many as nine when Auda came up with another second chance bucket to push the lead to 38-29 late in the period. Two Sir'Dominic Pointer layups closed the scoring for the half and pulled St. John's back to within five at 38-33 heading into the locker room.
A staunch defensive effort in the first half helped the Pirates go into the break ahead on the scoreboard as Seton Hall converted 11 St. John's turnovers into 19 points in the period. The Hall also held an 8-0 edge in fastbreak points and matched their total rebounding output from Tuesday's matchup with Marquette with 19 boards - nine of which came on the offensive end - in the first 20 minutes alone.
Despite the result, Seton Hall generated 19 turnovers and ended the game with a 28-to-8 advantage in points off giveaways.
Next up for The Hall is a rematch with Georgetown who the Pirates took down on the road, 67-57, on Jan. 18. Tip-off is slated for 9 p.m. from the Prudential Center where the CBS Sports Network will be on hand to provide a live national telecast. Seton Hall's radio team of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the call for 970 AM (WNYM) and the Pirate Sports Network on SHUPirates.com.
