Seton Hall University
Niagara
Seton Hall Knocks Off Niagara in Season Opener
11/9/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 9, 2013
NEWARK, N.J. - The Seton Hall men's basketball team opened its season with a victory for the third time in four years under head coach Kevin Willard, never trailing in a 83-72 victory over defending MAAC regular season champions Niagara at the Prudential Center on Saturday night as part of the 2013 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.
Making his debut for Seton Hall (1-0), red-shirt sophomore Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) was a relentless force in 32 minutes off the bench, delivering collegiate career-highs of 23 points, six rebounds and four assists. He shot 17-for-23 from the free-throw line.
Junior forward Brandon Mobley (Savannah, Ga.) added 14 points and six rebounds in a reserve role as well as seven SHU substitutes combined for 56 points against only 14 for the Niagara bench.
Both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the first half as a total of 40 fouls were whistled leading to 57 foul shots in the opening period. Seton Hall forced three Niagara turnovers in the first two minutes of the game and quickly moved ahead, 7-3, behind baskets form three different starters.
A slam from Mobley at the 17:10 mark pushed the lead to 9-4 in favor of The Hall but the Purple Eagles responded by scoring 12 of the next 17 points to tie the score at 16-16 with 13:27 to go before the break.
Out of the timeout, red-shirt junior forward Patrik Auda (Brno, Czech Republic) connected on a turnaround jumper to put the Pirates back on top but Seton Hall would be then be forced to weather a stretch over minutes in which the team did not record a field goal.
The Pirates managed to keep pace with Niagara however; converting on 11 free throws during the drought, five of which came from Gibbs. With the teams locked in a 29-29 tie, Gibbs found newcomer Hakeem Harris (Bergenfield, N.J.) who dropped in a floater to end the dry spell. The bucket sparked a quick 8-2 run for Seton Hall and after Tom Maayan (Galil, Israel) found Mobley for an easy two off an underneath out of bounds play just before the buzzer, SHU took a 39-34 advantage into the half.
28 of the SHU bench points came in the first half as the deep Pirate bench filled in nicely for starters Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) and Gene Teague (Vineland, N.J.) who were limited to 12 minutes combined due to foul trouble.
A Teague jumper less than a minute into the second half made it 42-35, stretching the Seton Hall lead past six for the first time all night. Maayan followed with a lay-in but seven unanswered points for NU prompted an SHU timeout with the score at 44-42 and 16:49 remaining.
When action resumed, the Pirates put together a seven-minute stretch where six different scorers helped SHU tally 16 of the next 23 points to open a 60-49 lead with 9:36 on the clock. The difference on the scoreboard would only slip under double-digits one more time as Seton Hall kept Niagara at bay with timely hoops.
A reverse lay-in from junior Stephane Manga (Orleans, France) gave The Hall its largest lead of the night at 83-64 with 1:43 to play, sealing the ninth consecutive victorious home opener for the squad.
The teams combined to shoot 102 free-throws but Seton Hall dominated inside as 21 of the Pirates' field goals came from inside the paint and a 42-to-20 advantage in points from in close helped the team create the decisive separation.
Auda chipped in 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting and added eight boards in his return to the floor after an injury shortened 2012-13 campaign.
Antoine Mason, the leading returning scorer in the MAAC, led all scorers with a new career-high 34 points but shot just 9-for-22 from the floor and was limited to 1-of-8 from downtown.
Seton Hall returns to the Prudential Center on Wednesday, November 13 when Kent State visits in the second game of the Coaches vs. Cancer event. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will air live nationally on FOX Sports 2.
