Seton Hall University
Xavier
Pirates come up short at Xavier
1/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TICKETS TO JAN. 13 VS. BUTLER
BOX SCORE (PDF)
CINCINNATI - In a classic BIG EAST battle that featured 11 ties and eight lead changes, the No. 19 Seton Hall men's basketball team came up just short when Xavier went on a 20-7 run mid second half to pull away with a 69-58 victory over the Pirates Wednesday at Cintas Center. Freshman Angel Delgado (Bajos De Haina, Dominican Republic) led Seton Hall with 12 points, junior Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) had eight points and seven assists and senior Haralds Karlis (Riga, Latvia) posted 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
The defeat is Seton Hall's first of the conference season after topping nationally ranked St. John's and Villanova to open BIG EAST play last week. The Pirates are now 12-3 overall and 2-1 in conference. The Musketeers improved to 11-4 overall and 2-1 in BIG EAST.
Despite the final score, the game was tightly contested in the early going with neither team gaining more than a seven-point lead in the first half. The game was tied six times in the first half, including at 14-14 when Karlis broke the stalemate with a three-pointer, the first of three consecutive baskets for him. He knocked down on another three on the next possession and then took a great pass from Gibbs for an uncontested layup, giving the Pirates a 20-16 advantage.
After redshirt freshman Rashed Anthony (Orangeburg, Va.) created the sixth tie with a nice post move inside for a layup at 3:57 to make it 24-24, the Musketeers converted three consecutive layups to go on a 7-0 run and take a seven-point lead. Freshman Desi Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y.) had a nice tip-in before the halftime buzzer to send Seton Hall into the locker room only down five, 33-28.
The Pirates came out hot in the second half to once again tie the game as Karlis went down baseline for a big dunk, and sophomore Jaren Sina (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) buried a three-pointer to make it 33 all. The teams continued to trade leads and ties for the next few minutes. Freshman Khadeen Carrington (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and senior Brandon Mobley (Savannah, Ga.) nailed back-to-back threes to put the Pirates up 47-45 with 11:52 to go.
Seton Hall got the lead to as high as four after Carrington's nice layup in traffic, but the game turned after the Pirates missed two more three-point attempts (the team was only 7-for-26 from behind the arc) while Xavier's Remy Abell and Myles Davis buried back-to-back three-pointers to put Xavier on top 53-49.
Gibbs kept Seton Hall within striking distance with three-pointers at 7:16 and 5:00, but the Pirates went cold after that, making just one field goal the rest of the night while Xavier expanded the lead to 11 on layups and free throws.
Seton Hall finished the game shooting 41.1 percent from the field and committed only 11 turnovers, but Xavier did turn them into 15 points. While Xavier out-rebounded The Hall, 32-30, the Pirates did a good job on the offensive glass, converting 13 rebounds into 18 second chance points.
The Pirates will be back in action Saturday when they are at Creighton. The game will emanate from the Century Link Center in Omaha, Neb., at 2 p.m., Eastern. FOX Sports 1 will carry the game live, and it will also be available on the FOX Sports Go app. Dave Popkin and Jon Schaeffer will have the call on 970 AM.
Seton Hall is home again on Tuesday, Jan. 13 against Butler at Prudential Center at 7 p.m. For tickets, click here or call (973) 275-HALL.
