Men's Basketball Upsets #9 Pittsburgh, 64-61

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NEWARK, N.J. - The Seton Hall men's basketball team knocked off #9 Pittsburgh, 64-61, on Sunday afternoon. The Pirates (12-6, 3-4) played much of the game without leading scorer Jeremy Hazell (Harlem, N.Y.), due to foul trouble, but sophomore Herb Pope (Aliquippa, Pa.) picked up the slack. Pope scored 12 of his 19 points in the second half, and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.

Sophomore Jeff Robinson (Trenton, N.J.) was the only other SHU player in double-figures with 15 points. Senior Eugene Harvey (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored nine points and had six steals. Ashton Gibbs poured in a game-high 23 points, shooting 14-of-14 from the charity stripe.

The Pirates maintained a comfortable cushion for much of the second half, but Seton Hall left the door open for a Panther (15-4, 5-2) comeback with missed free-throws down the stretch.

A pair of free-throws by Gibbs pulled Pittsburgh within 61-58 with 37 seconds left on the clock. Pope hit 1-of-2 on the other end, but Gilbert Brown drilled a three-pointer from the left win to make it 62-61 with 17 seconds remaining.

Robinson converted on a pair with 12 seconds left to extend the margin to three. The Panthers hurried up the floor and Gibbs fired away from the three-point line with eight seconds. Gibbs missed the shot, but picked up the loose ball and misfired from about 40-feet out as time expired.

In the first half, the teams swapped the lead nine times over the first 10 minutes and change. Robinson hit from the right corner from about 12-feet out on a nice pass from Jordan Theodore (Englewood, N.J.), who had six assists, to give the Pirates a 20-17 lead at the 7:02 marker.

Pope hit a turnaround jumper to give SHU its largest lead of the game, 30-19, with 2:42 remaining, but Pittsburgh would score the final six points of the half to cut the deficit to 30-26 at the half.

The Pirates last three wins against top-10 teams have now come against the Panthers. Seton Hall topped eighth-ranked Pitt at the Peterson Center and won at home against the fourth-ranked Panthers in 2004.

SHU had one of its best defensive games of the season, limiting Pittsburgh to 35.3 percent shooting and forced 20 turnovers.

The Pirates return to action on Thursday, January 28, at USF. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.