Men's Basketball Stays Alive in BIG EAST Championship with 68-54 Win Over USF
3/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
With the victory, Seton Hall (17-14) advances to the second round and will face sixth-seeded
Junior Eugene Harvey (
The Pirates received balanced scoring early on. Hazell and USF’s Dominique Jones traded three-pointers to start the game. Moments later, a three-pointer by junior Robert Mitchell (
After USF (9-22) cut the lead to 16-10,
The Bulls would not fade however, and a 9-1 capped by an Alex Rivas put-back gave USF the lead at 29-28 with 2:00 minutes remaining before halftime. On the next possession, Chris Howard hit a three-pointer to give USF their largest lead of the half, at 32-28. But John Garcia’s (
Jeremy Hazell and Chris Howard scored 11 points apiece to lead their respective teams at the half. Seton Hall shot 44.4% in the first half, but USF hit on a blistering 52.4% of their shots.
In the first 4:25 of the second half the lead changed five times with the teams seemingly scoring at will.
Seton Hall finally got some breathing room with a 12-2 run, to give the Pirates a 51-41 lead with 12:04 remaining in regulation. The last nine points of the run were all courtesy of Hazell, the BIG EAST’s second-leading scorer.
The remaining 12 minutes of the game featured plenty of scoring for both teams, but the Bulls could not make a final push.
Both teams shot well from the floor, with Seton Hall shooting 50.0 percent, and USF hitting on 44.2 percent
Earlier today in other BIG EAST Championship first round games, #16 DePaul upset #9
On Wednesday the BIG EAST Championship continues with second round games. Starting at noon, #16 DePaul will face #8
