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MORGANTOWN, W.Va.The Seton Hall men’s basketball team was defeated by West Virginia, 81-71, on Saturday afternoon. The Pirates fall to 12-13 overall and 3-9 in BIG EAST play. West Virginia improves to 20-6 and holds an 8-5 mark in league play. Junior Brian Laing (Bronx, N.Y.) and senior Stan Gaines (Chicago, Ill.) led the Pirates, each tallying a double-double.
Laing tallied 16 points and grabbed 10 boards, while Gaines registered his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Eugene Harvey (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led all scorers with 19 points, while Paul Gause (Pittsgrove, N.J.) also chipped in 12 points and made four historic steals. With 84 steals on the season, Gause surpassed former Pirate great Dan Callandrillo as the all-time Seton Hall single-season leader.
The Pirates held a 32-28 edge in rebounding, yet were out-shot 57.4% -46.3%. Seton Hall was limited from three-point range, as they shot just 3-of-20 while West Virginia was 9-of-23.
The two teams played an even first half, as the Mountaineers led 36-33 heading into the locker rooms. West Virginia jumped out with a 5-0 lead, but the Pirates fought back and the two teams traded mini scoring runs for the first 15 minutes of the half. The Mountaineers held the Pirates scoreless for 4:04, when they went on a 10-0 run to take a 28-19 lead with 5:38 remaining. However, the Pirates responded, and outscored the Mountaineers 13-3 to tie the score at 31-31 with 2:05 remaining in the first half. West Virginia re-gained the lead going into half after hitting a three and a layup.
Harvey accounted for a majority of the Pirates offense in the second half, scoring 13 of the team's first 24 second half points. West Virginia led by as many as 15, but the Pirates scrappy play kept Seton Hall in the game. The Mountaineers came out with a 14-5 run, however Harvey scored nine of the Pirates first 11 points of the half to keep the game within reach. Seton Hall went on a 7-0 run with 8:33 remaining, and cut the lead to two with 5:36 remaining after Gause scored a lay-up following a steal. But, the two-point lead would be the close as West Virginia would let the Pirates get, as the game ended with a final score of West Virginia 81, Seton Hall 71.
Seton Hall will next host Pittsburgh on Monday, Feb. 19. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
