Seton Hall University
Kent State
Balanced Attack Sends SHU Past Kent State
11/13/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 13, 2013
NEWARK, N.J. - Four starters scored in double-figures to help the Seton Hall men's basketball team to its second win in as many games as the Pirates downed visiting Kent State, 78-76, on Wednesday night at the Prudential Center.
After leading the team with 23 points in his Seton Hall (2-0) debut in the season opener, red-shirt sophomore guard Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) received his first career start and contributed another 20-point effort to go with a new career-high of six assists as well as five rebounds.
Senior standout Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) bounced back from a foul-plagued outing against Niagara and posted 19 points, including 3-of-5 shooting from behind the arc. Red-shirt junior Patrik Auda (Brno, Czech Republic) was a force for the second-consecutive game after returning from injury, adding 15 points on 4-of-6 from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the line.
The Pirates overcame nine first half turnovers by connecting on 50 percent of their field goals in the first 20 minutes, spurred by 9-of-14 shooting combined from Auda, Edwin and Gibbs who combined for 35 of the team's 42 points in the period.
Auda tallied the first four of the game, and helped stem a subsequent 7-0 Kent State run by finding his way to the cup for a layup just over two minutes into the action. Auda's bucket spurred a stretch of eight unanswered points for The Hall and over the next six minutes, Edwin and Gibbs combined to score 12 of the next 13 points in the game to help SHU open up an early 18-8 advantage.
The Golden Flashes cut the deficit to single-digits with a layup from veteran big man Melvin Tabb and the teams traded blows until freshman Jaren Sina (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) took a feed from Gibbs and found the mark on a quick-fire 3-pointer from the right wing to push the Seton Hall lead to 12 at 28-16 with 6:47 remaining in the half.
On the next trip down, Gibbs assisted Edwin on another trey to give The Hall its largest advantage of the half, followed by a two-handed flush from senior Aaron Geramipoor (Manchester, England) off a dish from Sina that capped three-straight successful possessions for Seton Hall.
Gibbs and Auda scored the last nine points of the period as the Pirates weathered a push from KSU to take a 42-33 edge into the break.
Improved efficiency from the foul line helped create the nine-point gap as after totaling 33 made free-throws in the opener against Niagara, The Hall connected on 16-of-21 attempts from the stripe in the half. SHU also enjoyed a sizeable 22-to-12 advantage on the boards as all five starters recorded at least three rebounds in the period.
Senior Brian Oliver (Glassboro, N.J.) converted on a straight-on 3-pointer to open the second half scoring for The Hall slightly under one minute into the period and later found the range on another triple to put the Pirates ahead 50-41 with 16:57 to play. Kent State kept the pressure on but the Seton Hall lead never slipped below six over the next eight minutes and with 8:16 to go, Oliver drifted deep into the corner and nailed his third 3-pointer of the half to make the score 64-54.
Kent State responded with eight-straight points and after Edwin put a stop to the run with two free-throws, a dunk by Khaliq Spicer and a quick 3-pointer from Kris Brewer gave the Golden Flashes a 67-66 lead at the 5:05 mark, their first since the score was 7-6 in favor of the visitors.
Edwin pulled the Pirates back in front with a tough layup in transition and Gibbs scored the next four, pushing the gap back to five at 72-67 with a layup at the 2:57 mark. Brewer, who scored 15 of his game-high 28 in the second half, recorded four consecutive points to close Kent State back to within one but that was as close as KSU would come to reclaiming the lead.
Gibbs' layup was the final field goal of the night for the Pirates but the team connected on 10 of their final 12 foul shots to score their second win of the season, securing a 78-76 victory.
The Hall finished with 32 made free-throws, led by a 12-of-13 effort from their lead guard Gibbs who has now made a total of 29 through two games in a Seton Hall uniform. 22 of the team's attempts came in the second half as the Pirates went 16-for-22 in the period including the clutch run down the stretch.
Edwin's 19 points pulled him into a tie with John Ramsay (1972-75) for 28th all-time on the program's scoring list with 1,236 career points.
Brewer went 9-fo-12 from the floor and made all four of his 3-point attempts for Kent State (2-1) as the Golden Flashes were handed their first loss of the young season in the second game of the 2013 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.
Next up for the Pirates is their first road test of the season as the squad travels to Georgia to take on Mercer on Saturday, November 16. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. The live broadcast is available on the radio 570 AM (WMCA).
