Seton Hall University
Mercer
Pirates Edged at Mercer; 77-74 in 2OT
11/16/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 16, 2013
MACON, GA. - Senior Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) poured in a career-high 35 points but the Seton Hall men's basketball team came up just short at Mercer on Saturday afternoon, dropping a 77-74 decision to the Bears in double-overtime.
It was the second time in as many meetings that The Hall (2-1) and Mercer (2-1) have gone into extra time after Seton Hall scored an 80-77 overtime victory on December 18, 2011 in what was the first-ever matchup between the two schools.
After Mercer's Darious Moten made 1-of-2 from the line with two seconds left in the second extra period to put the Bears up three, SHU senior Brian Oliver (Glassboro, N.J.) got a look from behind the three-point arc, but his long-range effort glanced off the front of the rim at the buzzer.
Edwin's career night came in efficient fashion as he sank a new personal-best 15 field goals on 25 attempts (60.0 percent) and also came away with five steals. Big man Eugene Teague (Vineland, N.J.) logged 41 minutes in the contest, finishing with nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
The Pirates controlled the first half, but were only able to take a one-point lead into the locker room after playing in front for nearly 19 minutes in the period. After assisting on a 3-pointer from red-shirt sophomore Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) on the Pirates' opening possession, Edwin tallied eight-consecutive points; putting SHU up, 11-7, with a jumper at the 15:07 mark.
Mercer soon answered with a layup on the other end but the Pirates then rattled off eight unanswered points, five of which came from Patrik Auda (Brno, Czech Republic) to open up their first double-digit edge at 19-9 with 10:43 before the break. Three minutes later, a tip-in from Edwin gave The Hall its largest lead of the contest at 25-13 but the Bears bounced back to score 14 of the final 17 points of the half as a layup by forward Daniel Coursey with two seconds remaining cut the deficit to 28-27 at the intermission.
Teague struck first with a putback on the opening possession of the second half but a Bud Thomas trey capped a 5-0 spurt for the Bears, giving Mercer a 32-30 lead that was their first in over 20 minutes of game action.
Neither team would pull ahead by more than three points until senior center Aaron Geramipoor (Manchester, England) converted on a second-chance layup to put the Pirates on top 47-43 with 9:50 remaining in regulation. The bucket was part of a 9-0 run for The Hall as a subsequent triple and fast-break layup by Edwin made the score 52-43 in favor of SHU.
Two more Thomas treys helped Mercer quickly narrow the gap and kick-started a stretch that saw the Bears climb back in front. Ike Nwamu connected from inside the lane to tie the score and a mid-range jumper from Langston Hall capped a 13-2 stretch that helped Mercer claim a 56-54 advantage with 1:52 left in the second half.
Gibbs leveled the score with two free-throws at the 0:39 mark and after Edwin came up with a steal with 11 seconds remaining; the Pirates had a chance to win the game in the closing seconds. Gibbs made his way to the rim for a layup and came up empty but the ball went back to Seton Hall on the rebound. After a timeout with four seconds on the clock, Mercer denied Seton Hall a chance at a game-winner with a steal that sent the game into overtime.
Langston Hall, who led the Bears with 24 points, scored all nine of Mercer's points in the initial extra period, including the first four for either team. Georgia native Brandon Mobley (Savannah, Ga.) found the mark from downtown to help the Pirates tie the score at 60 but MU moved ahead again as Hall made a jumper and then sank two free-throws to push the gap back to four at 64-60 with just over a minute to go.
Edwin cut the deficit back to one with a 3-pointer off a feed from Mobley and after Hall made only 1-of-2 foul shots with 27 seconds left, Edwin found his way into the paint and sank a clutch layup to even proceedings at 65-65 with 12 seconds on the clock. Hall got the call as Mercer looked to score a game-winner, but his jumper was errant and Nwamu missed the mark on a tip-in to send the teams into a second overtime.
The squads traded blows in the first three minutes of what would turn out to be the final period until another Edwin layup gave the Pirates their first lead of the overtime at 71-69 with 1:38 to go. Jakob Gallon nailed a 3-pointer on the next possession and after an empty trip for SHU, Hall made two more free-throws to give Mercer a 74-71 edge. Edwin made his way into the paint again and sank a layup to make it a one-point game but Hall calmly made two more foul shots for Mercer to make it 76-73 with 16 seconds remaining.
With a chance to tie the score, Oliver missed from downtown but Teague grabbed the board and was fouled. He made the first before intentionally missing the second, but Moten secured the rebound for the Bears setting up the final sequence in which a last-second heave from Oliver came up just short.
After totaling just four foul shots in the first 40 minutes, reigning Atlantic Sun regular season champions Mercer kept pace by shooting 10-for-14 from the stripe in overtime. Coursey, Nwamu and Thomas all joined Langston Hall in double-figures for Mercer as MU won for the 32nd time in their last 35 home games.
The Pirates return to action on Monday, November 18 when they host the Monmouth Hawks at the Prudential Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on FOX Sports 2. A radio broadcast will be available on 970 AM or through SHUPirates.com
