Pirates Set to Square-Off with Saint Peter's
12/13/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 13, 2013
Buy Tickets | YES Network | Game Notes | | Live Audio| Interviews
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall men's basketball team will look to keep a number of streaks alive on Saturday afternoon as the Pirates are set to host in-state foe Saint Peter's University at the Prudential Center for the fifth season in-a-row.
The Hall (7-3) picked up its third consecutive win on Tuesday night by racing past an improved NJIT squad, 71-55, behind double-digit scoring performances from four of its five starters. Against the Peacocks (2-6), Seton Hall will look to extend that streak to four while also recording its 18th-consecutive win in the longstanding series between the two schools which dates back to 1932. The Pirates outscored Saint Peter's by 16 in the second half last season as a game-high 25 points from Fuquan Edwin led the squad to a 76-61 victory that was its 17th-straight in the series and its 26th in the last 27 meetings overall.
Riding a three-game winning streak, the Pirates enter their third consecutive intra-state matchup coming off a game where junior forward Brandon Mobley (Savannah, Ga.) set the pace with 18 points. After struggling with his outside shot through the first eight games of the year - a stretch in which he totaled only five treys - Mobley knocked down three 3-pointers for the second game in-a-row. The 6-foot-9 forward entered the season ranked fifth all-time at Seton Hall with a 40.0 percent career mark from behind the arc and has now scored in double-figures in three-straight games.
Freshman Jaren Sina (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) delivered the finest performance of his young Pirate career, missing just one shot en route to a career-high 17 points, 12 of which came in the second half, and handing out four assists. Sina has settled into the starting lineup nicely during the recent winning streak, averaging 10.0 points and totaling nine more assists than turnovers while logging 34 minutes per game. Fellow guard Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) scored 16 points last time out, adding to his conference-leading free-throw tally by sinking eight-of-nine attempts. Gibbs has now scored at least 16 points in seven of the team's 10 games this season and is in the midst of a five-game stretch where he has hit 30 of his last 33 foul shots.
Center Eugene Teague (Vineland, N.J.) continued to dominate down low, racking up 11 points and 14 rebounds as part of his third-straight double-double. His spike in performance since classmate Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) was forced out of action due to injury has been a driving force behind the Pirates' success in the absence of the Preseason Second Team All-BIG EAST selection and his recent surge has seen him rise to the top of the conference's rebounding chart at 9.1 per game. Teague has also connected on over 70 percent of his field goals during the stretch and after going 4-for-6 against the Highlanders, ranks fifth in the league at 55.4 percent for the season.
Saint Peter's will be hard-pressed to deny Teague a fourth double-double in as many games as the big man powered his way to a 20-point, 11-rebound performance against the Peacocks a season ago. Head coach John Dunne and Saint Peter's have however received a tremendous boost in the frontcourt this year as Fordham transfer Marvin Dominique has emerged as one of top forwards in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). Dominique stands second in the conference and among the top-40 in the nation at 9.6 rebounds per game and also leads Saint Peter's in scoring at 18.1 points per game.
He is coming off two double-doubles of his own as he was the standout of the Peacocks' first foray into conference play, dropping 25 points and snatching 10 boards against Canisius before totaling 10 points and 16 rebounds vs. Niagara last time out. Dominique and junior guard Desi Washington (11.0 ppg) are the only two players averaging in double-figures for a Saint Peter's squad that is near the bottom of the 11-team MAAC at 65.2 points per game and have combined to account for nearly 44 percent of the team's shot attempts on the season.
The Peacocks have also only connected on 30.1 percent of their 3-point attempts as a team this season as Dominique and Washington are the only players with as many as eight treys, though neither shoots better than 35.0 percent from downtown. 3-point defense has been an area of emphasis for The Hall of late as NJIT connected on 9-of-19 (47.3 percent) triples on Tuesday night, becoming the third Seton Hall opponent in the last five games to make at least eight 3-pointers while shooting over 47 percent from distance.
The Pirates did however clamp down in the second half and limited the Highlanders to just 3-of-9 from downtown in the final period.
Tomorrow's contest will be the fourth of five-straight on the road for Saint Peter's as the Peacocks have not played at home since scoring a 70-57 victory over Binghamton on November 26, a game that also stands as their most recent win. As previously mentioned, Saint Peter's fell to Niagara in its last appearance and the game against the Purple Eagles was the fourth in which they squared off with an opponent that Seton Hall has previously faced this year as well. The Hall defeated Niagara as well as Kent State and LIU-Brooklyn but fell to Fairleigh Dickinson at home while the Peacocks took down FDU on the road (67-63, 11/23) but came up short against the Golden Flashes and the Blackbirds.
Seton Hall and Saint Peter's will meet for the 85th time in school history on Saturday, making the Peacocks the most frequently played non-BIG EAST opponent in program history. The Pirates have only played Villanova (102), Georgetown (95), Providence (92) and St. John's (89) more than Saint Peter's and their 61 wins in the series is the most for Seton Hall against any one institution.
The newest installment of this deep-seated Garden State rivalry is set to tip-off at Noon tomorrow, Saturday December 14. A live telecast will be available through the FOX Sports Network and can be seen locally on the YES Network. Seton Hall's radio team of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the call on 970 AM, with a web stream available through SHUPirates.com.
