Seton Hall University
No. 6 Syracuse
MBB Falls Before Record Crowd
2/17/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NEWARK, N.J. - A record Prudential Center crowd of 13,569 watched Seton Hall junior Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) pour in 21 points on Saturday night, but the Pirates came up short against #6 Syracuse, falling 76-65 in the final regular season conference game between the two BIG EAST charter members.
It was the ninth time this season that Edwin, who was honored before the game for becoming the 40th player in school history to score 1,000 career points, has reached the 20-point mark. Gene Teague (Vineland, N.J.) was a force down low for Seton Hall (13-13, 2-11), adding 14 points and nine rebounds.
Seton Hall connected on three of its first five three-point attempts against the vaunted Syracuse zone, but the Orange recorded seven offensive rebounds in the first five minutes to help limit the SHU lead to three at 9-6 going into the first media timeout. After a third Michael Carter-Williams dunk cut the SU deficit back to three at 11-8, the Pirates reeled off 10 of the next 14 points behind an up-tempo attack and a corner trey by Haralds Karlis (Riga, Latvia) from right in front of the Syracuse bench widened the gap to 21-12, prompting the visitors to call a timeout with 11:14 before the half.
The Orange crept back into the game with eight unanswered points over the next four minutes, and a floater from C.J. Fair trimmed the Seton Hall advantage to 21-20 just ahead of the 7:30 mark. Both teams buckled down defensively and it was Fair again scoring the game's next field goal over two minutes later, completing a old-fashioned three-point play to give Syracuse a 24-21 lead, their first since an early 4-3 edge. Brandon Mobley (Savannah, Ga.) broke a scoreless drought of over six minutes for The Hall with two free-throws on the ensuing possession but James Southerland responded from deep seconds later to put the Orange on top 27-23. The Pirates re-discovered their offensive touch in the closing minutes, hitting three of their next five shots but another three by Southerland on Syracuse's final possession of the half gave SU a 36-30 cushion heading into the locker room.
SHU outshot Syracuse by a slim margin in the half, but the Orange had almost as many offensive rebounds (11) as the Pirates had total rebounds (12) in the period, resulting in 10 more attempts at the basket.
Aaron Cosby (Louisville, Ky.) found the mark from downtown twice early in the second half, with the second narrowing the gap to 40-36 with 16:46 to play. SU tallied 11 points over the next four minutes but The Hall remained within striking distance as Mobley and Teague staked their claim to the painted area on the offensive end. A strong Teague put-back brought SHU back to within six at 53-47 and the Seton Hall defense stifled the Orange over the next few minutes but with both teams in the bonus early, Syracuse was able to build a 64-54 advantage behind 11 straight points from the foul line. Edwin twice cut the lead to eight down the stretch, but the Pirates couldn't overcome a 40-point effort from the Orange in the second period.
Brandon Triche powered Syracuse (21-4, 9-3) with a career-high 29 points on 10-for-18 shooting. The Orange grabbed 20 offensive rebounds on the night, leading to a 10-point advantage in second chance points (15-5) on the night.
Seton Hall will return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 19 when they host Marquette. Game-time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
