Seton Hall University
Georgetown
MBB Sweeps Series with Georgetown
2/21/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2014
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NEWARK, N.J. - The offense was clicking on all cylinders for the Seton Hall men's basketball team on Thursday as the Pirates put an end to a three-game slide with a convincing 82-67 victory over Georgetown at the Prudential Center. The win gave The Hall (14-12, 5-8) its first season sweep of Georgetown (15-11, 6-8) since the 2002-03 campaign and pulled the Pirates to within a half game of the Hoyas for seventh place in the BIG EAST.
Up against a Georgetown team that entered the night as the BIG EAST leaders in field goal percentage against (.402), Seton Hall approached season-highs by knocking down 55.1 percent of its field goal attempts (27-of-49) and effectively breaking down the Hoyas with 20 assists.
Senior Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) and sophomore Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) outperformed a heralded Georgetown backcourt for the second time this season, as Edwin delivered a game-high 21 points to go with five rebounds and Gibbs tallied 18 points and seven assists without a turnover in 28 minutes off the bench.
Edwin, who keyed The Hall's 67-57 victory with 19 second half points when the teams squared off in January, averaged 22.5 points, 5.5 boards and 3.5 steals over the two meetings. Jaren Sina (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) also exceled in what was his first start in eight games, finishing with 10 points and four assists while totaling just one giveaway.
Seton Hall also enjoyed a distinct advantage inside as senior Eugene Teague (Vineland, N.J.) and junior Patrik Auda (Brno, Czech Republic) combined for 20 points, 13 rebounds and four assists in reserve roles. The added contributions from the experienced frontcourt duo helped the Pirates' bench outscore the Georgetown reserves, 41-to-20.
The Hall took a nine-point edge into the locker room, but Georgetown recorded the first five points of the second half and a Markel Starks jumper pulled the Hoyas to within three at 37-34. Gibbs helped ignite the Pirates' response, scoring six of eight unanswered points for Seton Hall to increase the gap to 11 with 15:35 to go.
In all, the Pirates recorded 14 of the next 16 points after the Starks jumper and put the result out of doubt by sinking 10 of their first 15 field goals in the second half. During the stretch, Auda walked down the lane for an emphatic slam that ended a Georgetown threat to cut the lead to single-digits, making the score 65-52 with 6:53 to play.
The Hall, which led by no less than 10 points over the final 15:35, scored its final seven points from the charity stripe and pulled away by as many as 19 in the closing minutes.
The strong second half came on the heels of a first 20 minutes in which Seton Hall seized control from the start. The Pirates forced three early turnovers and converted on their first three field goals, jumping out to a 7-3 lead on a layup by Aaron Geramipoor (Manchester, England) just under four minutes into the game. Three of Seton Hall's next four field goals came from beyond the arc as Haralds Karlis (Riga Latvia), Edwin and Gibbs all found the mark from downtown in a three-minute span to help The Hall move ahead, 18-13. Gibbs accounted for the final trey in the stretch and his bucket kick-started a 10-2 run for the Pirates that resulted in a 25-15 advantage at the 8:26 mark.
Georgetown bounced back to score nine of the next 13 points in the contest, but Teague moved the gap back to double-digits with two consecutive baskets through contact, completing the old-fashioned 3-point play on the latter to put Seton Hall on top, 34-24, with 3:31 to go before the break. After a layup by the Hoyas' Jabril Trawick cut the deficit back to eight, Edwin buried his third triple of the half to give the Pirates their largest advantage of the period at 37-26 in the closing minutes.
Georgetown tallied a layup down the stretch to head into the locker room down nine, but the Hoyas were outshot by a well-run Seton Hall attack in the half. The Pirates converted on 15-of-28 shots overall (.536) and 5-of-9 from long range (.556) during the first 20 minutes, impressive rates of efficiency that can be attributed to superior ball movement which yielded 13 assists in the period.
D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera paced Georgetown with 20 points while Starks chipped in 13. Jabril Trawick tallied 11 points as well. Seton Hall limited nine other Hoyas who saw the floor to a collective 23 points.
On the offensive end, Geramipoor continued his impressive run of play, making all three of his shots to finish with six points in his second start in-a-row.
Seton Hall will hit the road next, making its first-ever trip to Omaha to face the #11/#12 Creighton Bluejays on Sunday in the first of two-straight games away from home. The Hall and Creighton met for the first time as conference foes on January 4 with the Bluejays scoring 79-66 victory at the Prudential Center. Sunday's contest is set for a 5 p.m. tip on the east coast airing live nationally through the FOX Sports Networks. Local fans can tune in to MSG Network for the telecast and listen to the call from Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin on 970 AM (WNYM) or the Pirate Sports Network on SHUPirates.com.
