Men's Basketball Falls to #20 Pittsburgh, 84-70

Box Score (html) 

Box Score (pdf)

PITTSBURGH, PA. Seton Hall men’s basketball lost to #20 Pittsburgh, 84-70, Saturday afternoon at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.  Despite the loss, Eugene Harvey (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Brian Laing (Bronx, N.Y.), and Jamar Nutter (Bloomfield, N.J.), each scored in double-figures.

Pittsburgh (14-2, 2-1) jumped out to a 13-5 lead with 13:54 remaining in the first half.  Sam Young began the scoring with a three-pointer and added a layup to put the Panthers ahead 7-0.  Young had nine of his team’s 13 points in the run.  Harvey got the Pirates on the board with two free-throws to cut the lead to 7-2.

The Pirates (10-6, 0-3) got as close as one point, 14-13, but the Panthers took a 33-30 lead into the locker room. 

In the second half the Panthers pulled away.  They shot 8-for-11 from behind the three-point arc, with Young hitting two and Keith Benjamin and Ronald Ramon tallying three.  Harvey kept the Pirates close by scoring 16 of his team-leading 25 points in the second half. Nutter scored eight of his 10 in the second half as well.  Nutter is now 29 points shy of 1,000 on his career.

Laing injured his hip in the first minute of the second half and played limited minutes the rest of the way.  He suffered a left hip pointer, but is not expected to miss any time.  He finished the game with 17 points.

For the Panthers, Young finished with a game-high 28 points.  Benjamin and Ramon finished with 12 and 14 points respectively, while DeJuan Blair finished with 20 points. 

Pittsburgh out-shot the Pirates, 49.1%-to-34.8%, and out-rebounded them, 45-to-36.  John Garcia (Brentwood, N.Y.) led the Pirates with 12 rebounds.

 

The Pirates return home on Thursday, January 17 for a BIG EAST Conference match-up against USF.  Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.