Seton Hall University
Butler
Seton Hall stumbles against Butler 71-54
3/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 08, 2014
INDIANAPOLIS - The Seton Hall men's basketball team fell to Butler 71-54 on Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse in the 2013-14 regular-season finale. Kellen Dunham scored a game-high 29 points to lead the Bulldogs as the sophomore guard did not miss from downtown hitting all seven 3-point attempts. The Pirates were led by Patrik Auda's (Brno, Czech Republic) 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting.
The Hall (15-16, 6-12) and Butler (14-16, 4-14) will meet for third time this season next week in the First Round of the BIG EAST Tournament Presented by NEW YORK LIFE. The squads take the floor at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The winner advances to the quarterfinals for the first shot at top-seeded Villanova on Thursday at noon.
The Bulldogs unleashed an offensive flurry on The Hall hitting their first eight 3-pointers, five courtesy from Dunham, and finished the game shooting 61.1 percent (11-18) beyond the arc. Butler sank 14 of its first 18 shots (77.8%) to quickly open a double-digit advantage as the Bulldogs did not trail in the contest.
Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) helped The Hall build momentum heading into halftime as the red-shirt sophomore guard scored the first five points of an 8-0 run that was capped by Auda's trifecta with 3:25 left in the stanza. Auda scored 13 of his 22 points in the first 20 minutes.
While the Pirates started connecting on shots in the final six minutes of the first half, Butler went cold and missed its final five 3-point attempts. The Pirates outscored the Bulldogs 12-2 in the closing minutes of the period to pull within 40-30 at the break.
The Bulldogs came out of the locker room with the same hot shooting it started the contest with as they rallied off eight quick points and maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way. Dunham shot a sweltering 11-for-14 from the field in the contest.
Gibbs finished with 11 points hitting all four free-throw attempts. Senior center Eugene Teague (Vineland, N.J.) was the third Pirate to post double-figures with 10 points going along with a team-high six rebounds.
Bulldogs senior Khyle Marshall and freshman Elijah Brown each scored 10 points. Butler big man Kameron Woods notched a game-high nine rebounds.
The Pirates have three days to prepare for their third and final meeting with Butler this season. The contest will air live on FOX Sports 1 and the Seton Hall radio broadcast is available on 970 AM WNYM.
