| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- There's no more need to hype No. 10 Seton Hall and its fabulous freshmen. They're for real, at least they were in the second half of their season opener.
Darius Lane scored 25 points and Seton Hall's freshmen put on a show in the final 20 minutes to lead the Pirates to a 104-76 victory over Rider on Friday night.
Eddie Griffin led the freshman trio with 22 points and 14
rebounds. Marcus Toney-El added 11 of his 13 points in the half and
guard Andre Barrett had 17 points, four assists and five steals.
"I was angry at halftime," said Barrett, who had two steals in
an 11-0 run at the start of the second half that gave Seton Hall
the lead for good. "We weren't playing the way we were capable of
playing. We weren't giving our all. We were playing selfish."
That ended in the second half as the Pirates got a couple of
stops, a couple of steals and a couple baskets to calm everyone
down.
"In the second half, you saw Seton Hall basketball," Lane
said. "...I think this was an eye opener for some of our freshmen.
This was their first college game, and it's not like you are just
going to show up and they are going to lie down. This year we're
the guys with the bull's-eye on our backs."
The 100-point performance was the first for the Pirates since
Nov. 29, 1998, when they posted a 104-46 win over Kean, a Division
III school.
Jonathan McClark had 23 points and 13 rebounds for Rider, which
had everyone wondering what all the Seton Hall-hype was about after
leaving the court at halftime tied at 45. Michael Crawford added 15
points for the Broncs of the Northeast Conference.
"We played very well in the first half," Rider coach Donnie
Harnum said. "I'm not really sure whether it was us playing poorly
or them playing great or a combination of both. But their second
half was some impressive explosion."
Seton Hall had come into the season with great expectations,
returning four key players from last season's NCAA round of 16
team, while adding one of the nation's top recruiting classes.
But the Pirates didn't play like a team capable of getting back
to the NCAA Tournament in the opening 20 minutes, a half that ended
with the Broncs scoring on a 2-on-0 break to tie the game.
Whatever coach Tommy Amaker said at halftime, it worked.
The Pirates scored the first 11 points of the second half.
Toney-El got five, Griffin hit a 3-pointer and Barrett made two
steals, one to set up a 3-pointer by Lane for a 56-45 lead with
18:14 left.
After two timeouts, Rider scored 10 of the next 12 points,
drawing within 58-55 on a layup by McClark. The Pirates still led
64-58 with 13:25 to go when all the preseason hype suddenly became
reality with 25-3 run over the next 5:34.
Griffin had 11 points in the run, including a spectacular
windmill jam on a fastbreak. Toney-El added six points and Ty
Shine, one of the stars of the Pirates' miracle run in the NCAA
Tournament, added five as The Hall opened a 89-61 lead with 7:51 to
go.
"When we get into transition we can be a pretty good team,"
Amaker said.
The only thing the Pirates had to do after that was break 100,
which they did when backup center Charles Manga made another
windmill dunk with 3:15 to go.
Seton Hall hit eight of 12 3-pointers in the second half when it
shot 55 percent.
Starting their three freshman, the Pirates showed little
maturity playing against a team that returned all its starters from
a year ago. Their offense was most one-on-one plays and their
defense was suspect after center Samuel Dalembert picked up three
fouls in three minutes.
Dalembert only played 11 minutes before fouling out with four
points and three rebounds.
The most noteworthy number was that Seton Hall had 45 points but
only five assists in the first half.
"We still have a lot to work on, we're not a very good halfcourt team now," Amaker said.
| |
ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Rider Clubhouse
Seton Hall Clubhouse
|
