Seton Hall University
Fairleigh Dickinson
Seton Hall Edged by FDU
12/1/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2013
NEWARK, N.J. - The Seton Hall men's basketball team sustained its first home loss of the season on Sunday afternoon as the Pirates were edged by Fairleigh Dickinson, 58-54.
Senior Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) scored a team-high 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting for Seton Hall (4-3) and added five rebounds and two assists. Edwin also came away with a season-high five steals, increasing his BIG EAST leading total to 21 through seven contests.
FDU was led by point guard Sidney Sanders Jr. who posted game-highs of 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists to lead the Knights (3-6) to their second-consecutive victory after also scoring 23 in a 73-72 road win over Rutgers on Tuesday.
The Pirates out-shot Fairleigh Dickinson in the first half but the Knights' methodical attack and opportunistic defense allowed the visitors to operate with a lead for most of the period. Empty possessions troubled the Pirates early and just under 10 minutes into the game, Fairleigh Dickinson's leading scorer Sanders Jr. came up with a steal then stepped to the line and sank two free-throws to give the Knights their largest lead of the half at 18-10.
After totaling just seven giveaways in a win over Virginia Tech, SHU turned the ball over nine times in the opening 20 minutes alone; leading to nine FDU points.
SHU scored nine of the next 12 points to pull within three as Edwin found Aaron Geramipoor (Manchester, England) for a strong finish down low to make the score 22-19 at the 6:02 mark. A put-back layup from Edwin cut the deficit to one with less than two minutes to go before the break but Mustafaa Jones answered by knocking down his third 3-pointer of the half to put FDU on top, 26-22, heading into the locker room.
A trey from Edwin in the opening seconds of the second half, followed by a slam from forward Brandon Mobley (Savannah, Ga.) gave SHU a 27-26 advantage, its first since the score was 6-5 in the early going. FDU responded with seven unanswered points but Brian Oliver (Glassboro, N.J.) dialed in from long distance and Eugene Teague (Vineland, N.J.) finished the more conventional three-point play to level the score at 33-33 with 15:23 to play.
Sanders Jr. came down and found forward Scooter Gillette on the next trip and Gillette finished at the rim to put Fairleigh Dickinson back on top. Another Oliver triple was the only field goal that Seton Hall managed over the next seven minutes as a Malachi Nix jumper helped FDU open up an eight-point lead for the second time in the game at 46-38.
Freshman Jaren Sina (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) connected from downtown to end the drought, kick-starting a three-minute stretch in which The Hall outscored the Knights 11-2 to take a 49-48 lead with 5:21 remaining.
Sanders Jr. helped Fairleigh Dickinson keep pace down the stretch and on consecutive possessions, helped deliver what proved to be the decisive buckets. His layup at the 2:58 mark gave FDU a 52-51 advantage and after a misfire from Oliver, he found Mathias Seilund in the corner for a 3-pointer that pushed the gap to four.
Red-shirt sophomore Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) fed Sina for a triple that trimmed FDU's cushion to one at 55-54 with 1:14 to go but after Mobley's layup attempt was denied by Gillette with less than 30 seconds on the clock, SHU was forced to foul. Sanders Jr. converted on both attempts and Gibbs' subsequent attempt to tie the game came up short.
Xavier Harris missed both foul shots but Sanders Jr. corralled the offensive rebound and made 1-of-2 to seal a four-point win.
Oliver tallied four 3-pointers off the bench, finishing with 12 points; helping the Seton Hall reserves outscore the Fairleigh Dickinson bench 24-to-4.
Teague, who was battling a stomach flu, registered six points and three rebounds in just 14 minutes of action. The Pirates were also again without the services of forward Patrik Auda (Brno, Czech Republic) who had irritated a foot injury in last week's game against Oklahoma.
With Teague limited and Auda out of action, head coach Kevin Willard was forced to employ his seventh different starting lineup in seven games this season.
The Hall entered the contest averaging over 35 free-throw attempts per game but got to the line just 11 times on Sunday, making 7-of-11 as a team. Fairleigh Dickinson totaled 20 foul shots and sank 13, spurred by an 11-for-14 effort from Sanders Jr.
Gillette finished with 15 points, six rebounds and four blocks to power the Knights to just their fourth win in 21 all-time meetings with Seton Hall.
The Pirates return to the court on Thursday, December 5 when they host reigning Northeast Conference champions LIU-Brooklyn at the Prudential Center. FOX Sports 1 will televise the game nationally with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
A radio broadcast will be available on 970 AM and through SHUPirates.com.
