Richmond Edges Men's Basketball, 69-61
12/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BOX SCORE (.html)
BOX SCORE (.pdf)
NEWARK, N.J. - The Seton Hall men's basketball team played another strong first half, but could not quite finish the job as Richmond topped the Pirates, 69-61, in a Sunday matinee. Senior Jeff Robinson (Trenton, N.J.) led the squad with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and pulled down 10 rebounds.
Junior Jordan Theodore (Englewood, N.J.) added 15 points and junior Herb Pope (Aliquippa, Pa.) chipped in with nine points and a game-high 12 boards.
After a back-and-forth start, Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) dropped in a three-pointer in the corner to give SHU (6-6) a 19-13 edge with 11:49 left in the first half. The Spiders (10-3) closed within a point on three occasions before finally regaining the lead, 28-27, on a Dan Geriot jumper from the foul line with 5:01 remaining in the half.
Robinson scored the next six points of the game to put the Pirates ahead by five, including a monstrous dunk off a set play set up by a nice feed by Pope. Senior Eniel Polynice (Sarasota, Fla.) converted on a back-door layup as time wound down in the half to give Seton Hall a 35-30 lead into the break.
Richmond used a 9-1 run to even things up, 39-39, at the 16:39 mark of the second, but a three-point play by Theodore gave the advantage back to the Pirates just 28 seconds later. The lead would change hands six times over the next six-plus minutes until a friendly roll on a Theodore jumper capped a 7-0 run, putting the Hall on top, 58-53, with 8:54 remaining.
The Pirates then went cold on offense for a 7:08 stretch and the Spiders jumped ahead 64-59 off of a pair of contested jumpers by Justin Harper with 2:47 to go. A second-chance putback by Robinson pulled the Pirates within three, but they would get no closer.
Harper led all scorers with 24 points, aided by 6-of-8 shooting from downtown.
SHU won the battle of the boards by a 40-33 margin. The Pirates shot a blistering 57.1 percent from the floor in the first half, but just 25 percent in the second.
Seton Hall opens up BIG EAST play on Tuesday, December 28, against USF. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
