Seton Hall University
Monmouth
Auda Powers Seton Hall Past Monmouth
11/18/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2013
NEWARK, N.J. - Nearly a year to the day since suffering a season-ending injury in a game against Maine, the hard work and dedication shown by Seton Hall red-shirt junior Patrik Auda (Brno, Czech Republic) during his journey back to the court paid off in full on Monday night at the Prudential Center as the 6-foot-9 forward delivered a career-high 27 points to lead the Pirates past Monmouth, 82-66.
Seton Hall improves to 3-1 on the young season by extending a number of double-digit unbeaten streaks. The victory was the 12th in as many all-time meetings for SHU over Monmouth and the 11th that came by 10 points or more. The Hall also moved to 18-0 in non-conference home games over the last three seasons and scored its 19th-straight win against a non-league opponent from the Garden State.
Auda sustained an injury in a November 21 win over Maine that forced him out of the final 28 games of 2012-13 and after showing flashes in the first three appearances of the year, erupted for his best night in a Seton Hall uniform. The versatile lefty shot 8-of-9 from the field and a perfect 9-of-9 from the line to set career-highs in both categories and also added 10 rebounds to record the second double-double of his career.
Monmouth's Deon Jones nailed a 3-pointer off a kick out on the first possession of the game but Seton Hall came back to score 22 of the next 29 points in the game; opening up a dominant advantage in the early going. Making his first career start, freshman Jaren Sina (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) connected on a corner trey to get the Pirates on the board and two minutes later, a dribble drive that ended in a thunderous lefty throw-down from Auda gave The Hall a 9-5 lead.
With the score at 14-8 in favor of Seton Hall, sophomore Tom Maayan (Galil, Israel) assisted on three consecutive field goals, first finding junior Stephane Manga (Orleans, France) for a triple and then a layup and ending the stretch by feeding Hakeem Harris (Bergenfield, N.J.) for another three as the SHU reserves helped the Pirates build a 22-10 advantage that was their first double-digit edge of the half.
Seton Hall then went nearly nine minutes without a field goal but held off Monmouth's comeback attempts by getting to the line and converting, making eight-straight free throws during that span. Auda accounted for the final four foul shots during the drought and with 3:22 remaining before the break, he stepped into a 3-pointer and gave the Pirates a 33-21 lead. Red-shirt sophomore Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) hit from long distance one more time before the half to help Seton Hall head into the locker room ahead, 38-25.
SHU forced the Hawks into 12 first half turnovers and built the sizeable gap in large part due to a 17-2 advantage in points off turnovers in the period. Auda tallied nine of the squad's final 11 points before halftime and finished the first 20 minutes with game-highs of 15 points and six rebounds. He surpassed his previous career-high by going 8-for-8 from the line in the first half alone, playing a large role in the team's 13-for-14 effort in the opening stanza.
Gibbs helped set the tone for the remainder of the game by draining another trey on the first possession out of the intermission and the Pirates ran past Monmouth in the first six minutes of the half; scoring 20 of the first 23 points in the period. Auda found his way to the rack for another dunk off a look from Sina at the 14:11 mark, giving The Hall a 55-31 lead. The bucket was the first of three-straight for Auda as he provided the exclamation mark with a two-handed put-back slam that pushed the MU deficit to 26, the largest of the night, at 60-34.
Manga scored the next six points for The Hall on his way to a career-high 14 for the night as he and Gibbs combined to record 15 of the team's final 22 points over the last 11 minutes and Monmouth never pulled closer than 13 down the stretch.
Gibbs finished with 16 points four rebounds and a team-high four assists as he, Auda and Manga paced an attack that saw nine Pirates record a field goal. Seton Hall shot 53.1 percent as a team (26-of-49) for the game and dominated inside, posting a 38-22 advantage in points in the paint.
Jones ended the night with 24 points for Monmouth (1-2) as the Hawks dropped their second game in a row.
Next up for Seton Hall is the first of two games the team will play at Barclays Center as part of the championship rounds of the 2013 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. The Pirates will take on Oklahoma on Friday, November 22 at 7:00 p.m. before battling either Virginia Tech or #1/#1 Michigan State the following night.
Both contests will be shown live on truTV and a radio broadcast will be available on 970 AM and SHUPirates.com.
