Men's Basketball Tops No. 25 Syracuse, 68-61

Junior Jamar Nutter scored 19 points, hitting five 3-pointers, against Syracuse.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Stellar play from junior Jamar Nutter and senior Donald Copeland led the Seton Hall men’s basketball team to a 68-61 win over No. 25 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome on Sunday. Nutter scored a game-high 19 points, hitting five 3-pointers, and Copeland added 18 points, also dishing out a game-high eight assists. The win is the Pirates’ second over a ranked opponent in as many games.

Seton Hall (12-6, 3-3) jumped out to an early 8-0 lead, powered by two Copeland 3-pointers, and led for the first 12 minutes of the game. However, Syracuse (15-6, 3-4) took its first lead of the contest at the 7:29 mark on a Josh Wright lay-up, and led by as many as six points before taking a 32-28 lead into the half.

Nutter powered the Pirates after the break, hitting two of his five 3-pointers in the first 50 seconds of the half, tying the score, 34-34. A dunk from senior Kelly Whitney at the 18:13 mark put Seton Hall up 36-34, and the Orange would not lead for the rest of the game.

Seton Hall twice stretched its lead to six points but was unable to take full advantage of Syracuse’s 30.3 percent second-half shooting percentage. The Pirates struggled with a late Syracuse press and the Orange hung around until the final minutes.

After Syracuse’s Gerry McNamara hit two free-throws to tie the game 59-59 with 2:16 remaining, the Pirates quickly regained the lead when Copeland assisted a long Nutter 3-pointer, putting Seton Hall up, 62-59. The Orange’s Eric Devendorf missed a jumper during Syracuse’s next possession and moments later, Copeland hit a deep three of his own to extend the Pirate lead to 65-59 with just 1:11 remaining in the game.

“Our guys, they played with a lot of courage," head coach Louis Orr said. "Jamar and Donald made some huge shots and they were so timely. It was a great team win, and that’s what we are, a team.”

In the final minute of play, Seton Hall missed the front-end of three-straight 1-and-1 free-throw opportunities but managed to hold on for the win. The Pirates were 9-for-15 from the line, hitting only 60 percent of their shots, below their 75.3 percent heading into the game.

Syracuse was unable to generate any offense down the stretch, with Wright missing his own shot at a 1-and-1, and rimming out a wide-open fast-break lay-up moments later.

Whitney was the Pirates’ only other player to score in double-figures, finishing the game with 14 points and nine rebounds. Junior Grant Billmeier narrowly missed a double-double, with nine points and nine rebounds, and sophomore Brian Laing was 3-for-6 from the field, scoring six points.

As a team, Seton Hall shot 44.6 percent from the field, but won the game with its long-range shooting. Seton Hall was 9-for-21 from behind the arc, a success rate of 42.9 percent.

McNamara scored a team-high 15 points for Syracuse, but netted only five in the final 30 minutes of play. He was 5-for-17 from the field. The Orange had two other players score in double-figures, Demetris Nichols and Terrence Roberts both had 12 points. Syracuse struggled considerably from 3-point range, shooting just 5-for-27, 18.5 percent, as a team.

Seton Hall returns to action this Wednesday, Feb. 1, when it travels to Providence, R.I. to take on Providence in the Dunkin’ Donuts Center at 7:30 p.m.

Scoreboard

Related News

Related Videos

Seton Hall University Athletics

Sponsors Slider