MBB Squares off with Eastern Washington Sunday
12/20/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2013
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - As the New Year and BIG EAST play approach, two important non-conference games remain on the schedule for a Seton Hall men's basketball team that stands at 7-4.
An undermanned Pirates squad saw a three-game winning streak snapped last time out as The Hall dropped an 83-80 decision in an overtime thriller against Saint Peter's; a game that twice came down to the final buzzer. Seton Hall will look to start a new streak this Sunday when Eastern Washington visits the Prudential Center for an evening tilt that will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
When the Pirates take the floor, over a week will have passed since the back-and-forth showdown with the Peacocks. Playing their third game in six days and still without veteran leaders Patrik Auda (Brno, Czech Republic) and Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.), the team struggled offensively in the first half, going the final 11:26 of the period without a field goal.
As has been the case throughout the season however, The Hall kept a steady stream of visitors to the foul line and went into the locker room tied at 26-26 behind 13-of-14 shooting from the stripe. Despite being forced to come off the bench due to a stomach virus, red-shirt sophomore guard Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) led the way in the opening frame, scoring a team-high eight points and knocking down all six of his free-throws.
Seton Hall also managed to limit Saint Peter's standout Marvin Dominique to two points in the half, but in the second stanza the Fordham transfer found the range as he and teammate Desi Washington ultimately combined to tally 33 of the Peacocks' 42 points in the period. Pirates' center Aaron Geramipoor (Manchester, England) was forced out of action with an injury, and after leading a late charge that brought Seton Hall back to within one possession, Gibbs had to leave the game as well.
Down three points and with the ball at half court, The Hall found senior Brian Oliver (Glassboro, N.J.) off the inbound pass and as the buzzer sounded, he turned from just in front of half court and nailed one of his five treys on the afternoon to move the game into overtime. As the teams traded blows in the extra period, it was again Oliver who brought the Pirates level with a triple that knotted the score at 80-80 with 13 seconds to go. Washington connected on his seventh 3-pointer of the game eight seconds later however and a half court try from freshman Jaren Sina (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) bounced off the rim at the horn to give Saint Peter's their first win over the Pirates since 1995.
Washington was the high-scorer with 34 points. Oliver performed well in a starting role for Seton Hall totaling 26 points and 10 rebounds in a career-high 44 minutes to notch his first double-double of the year. Classmate Eugene Teague (Vineland, N.J.) continued to shoulder the load inside, racking up 14 points and 11 rebounds for his fourth-straight double-double.
With the performance, Teague is now averaging 14.5 points and 14.2 rebounds per game during the four-game stretch, while shooting a gaudy 70 percent (21-for-30) from the field. An average of 5.4 of those rebounds have come on the offensive end as well. The 6-foot-9 center currently leads the league with 3.7 offensive boards and 9.3 total rebounds per game.
Two of the Pirates' losses have now come in overtime and all four have now come by four points or less. With Gibbs limited, the team recorded a season-low nine assists against the Peacocks but due in part to his 9-of-9 performance at the line, the squad shot a season-best percentage from the stripe, making 25 of 28 attempts (89.2 percent). Seton Hall has scored an average of more than 22 points per game from the free-throw line, nearly nine of which have come from Gibbs. Now with the Seton Hall Prep product sidelined, the Pirates will need to find an alternate source of offense against an Eastern Washington squad that has scored at least 80 points in six of nine games this season.
Hailing from the Big Sky Conference and standing at 5-4 on the season, the Eagles head east in the midst of a two-game slide after losses against St. Mary's (CA) and UC Irvine in their last two outings. While Eastern Washington faces a long trip, the extended layoff figures to serve Seton Hall well against a rested Eagles squad. Eastern Washington has played just twice in December after a 5-2 start to the campaign that included a tough 12-point loss at Washington and a resounding 102-70 victory over LIU-Brooklyn on a neutral court in California.
Sophomore guard Tyler Harvey has led the team in scoring in each of the last four contests and at 19.7 points per game; ranks second in the conference. The Hall has had difficulty denying the opposition outside looks at times this season and Harvey is one of the premier downtown threats the Big Sky has to offer, knocking down 3.7 triples per game.
Harvey combines with junior point guard Drew Brandon to form a formidable backcourt tandem that will provide another stiff test for The Hall. Brandon leads the conference with 5.9 assists per game despite the fact that as a team, the Eagles assist on less than 50 percent of their field goals.
6-foot-7 Aussie forward Venky Jois ranks second on the squad in scoring (13.7 ppg) and leads the Eagles with 7.8 boards per game. Also shooting 52.2 percent from the floor, he stands in the top-seven in the league in both rebounding and shooting efficiency. As the team's most active free-throw shooter however, he has struggled to find the stroke from the line while shooting nearly identical percentage (28-for-53, 52.8 percent).
Harvey (13.6 shots/game), Brandon (10.7 shots/game) and Jois (10.0 shots/game) are at the center of a fast-paced attack that has yielded an average of eight shot attempts more than the Pirates and posts better than 77 points per game.
Oregon transfer Martin Seiferth, a 6-foot-10 forward, averages 19 minutes of action but with little depth inside, Eastern Washington has had difficulty keeping the opposition off the offensive glass. The Eagles allow more than 11 offensive rebounds per game, an avenue Teague and company will look to exploit.
Head coach Kevin Willard and the Pirates aim to get back in the win column when they tip-off against Eastern Washington at 5 p.m. on Sunday. A live national telecast can be seen on FOX Sports 1 and Seton Hall's radio team of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin can be heard on 970 AM WNYM or through SHUPirates.com.
