MBB Heads to Mercer for First Road Test
11/15/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 15, 2013
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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - After starting the season with two wins at home as part of the 2013 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, the Seton hall men's basketball team will travel to Georgia to take on the Mercer Bears, who stand as the defending Atlantic Sun regular season champions.
Seton Hall and Mercer will be squaring off for the second time in three years as SHU scored an 80-77 overtime victory in what was the first ever meeting between the two schools during the 2011-12 campaign.
The Pirates have been successful in getting to the line with regularity throughout the first two contests as the team sank in excess of 30 free-throws against both Niagara in the opener and versus the Golden Flashes. In what was a hard-fought win over KSU that went down to the wire, Seton Hall starters combined to convert on 31-of-32 attempts from the stripe and the team made 10 of its last 12 down the stretch to help hold off a late charge from the visitors.
Prior to this season, the last time the Pirates sank 30 or more free-throws in a game was in a first-round triumph over Providence at the 2010 BIG EAST Tournament.
Red-shirt sophomore guard Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) was inserted into the starting-five after setting career highs in points, rebounds and assists off the bench against Niagara and led the team in scoring for a second-straight contest; pouring in 20 points (12-13 FT) to go with a career-high six assists. Gibbs was at the front of a group of four Pirates in double-figures as senior Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) found his stroke after struggling with foul trouble in the opener and recorded 19 points. Patrik Auda (Brno, Czech Republic) tallied 15 points and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe and three second half treys helped Brian Oliver (Glassboro, N.J.) finish with 11 points.
Mercer is coming off a dominant win over Reinhardt (95-53) in their last time out after nearly knocking off Texas on the road in their first game of the season. The 2013-14 Bears feature a starting lineup that boasts five seniors, headlined by Langston Hall (12.0 ppg, 5.5 apg) in the backcourt and the 6-foot-10 Daniel Coursey (17.0 ppg, 9.5 rpg) up front.
Head coach Bob Hoffman guided Mercer to the second round of the NIT last season. The Bears took home the Atlantic Sun regular season title last year and amassed a 15-1 record at home with the only loss coming to a Sweet-16 squad in Florida Gulf Coast. Seton Hall has had success on the road against non-conference opponents in recent years however, winning five of the last six such games.
Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. From Macon, Ga. on Saturday afternoon. A live radio broadcast can be heard on WMCA 570 AM or streamed through SHUPirates.com.
