The Seton Hall Pirates lost their second straight game, this time to the Richmond Spiders, 69-61 at the Prudential Center.
Richmond forward Patrick Harper led all scorers with 24 points, going six of eight from beyond the arc.
Senior Jeff Robinson led the Pirates with 17 points, scoring just six points in the second half.
In the first half, with the Pirates down 28-27, Robinson scored six straight points, beginning with a layup to give the Pirates a one point lead.
Off of a Richmond turnover, Robinson went back down the floor and landed a slam dunk.
Then, following a missed shot by the Spiders' Dan Geriot, Robinson hit a jumper to push the Hall's lead to five.
The Pirates led by five points at the break.
As a team, the Hall shot 57.1 percent from the floor in the opening half.
The Spiders shot 40 percent from the floor in the half.
Robinson's strong play continued in the opening minutes of the second half, when after a missed three by Geirot, Robinson took the ball the length of the floor and converted on a put-back layup off of a miss by freshman Fuquan Edwin.
Robinson was fouled on the play and made the free throw to give the Hall an eight point lead,39-31.
However, Richmond scored on three straight possessions to come with one point. Geriot, Harper and Francis-Cedric Martel all made baskets in the run, putting the score at 39-38.
The Spiders would take a 43-42 lead with 14:52 remaining when forwards Kevin Smith and Kevin Anderson hit back-to-back buckets, in the midst of a 12-3 run.
Following a timeout, the Pirates retook the lead on their next possession when Edwin hit two of three free throws, then hit a jumper to take a three point lead.
The game went back and forth until the five minute mark when Richmond would go on a seven point run and take a five point lead with two minutes to play in the game.
Robinson hit a layup to cut the lead to three, but Richmond followed with a three pointer from Anderson.
On the Pirates ensuing possession, Edwin missed a jumper from the top of the key. Anderson responded with a jumper of his own to give the Spiders an eight point lead and the victory.
The Pirates finished the game by shooting 41.4 percent from the floor, following 57.1 percent shooting in the first half. The Hall shot just 40 percent from three point range and 50 percent from the free throw line.
Seton Hall returns to action on Dec. 28 when they open their Big East Conference schedule at home against the University of South Florida. Tip off is set for 7 p.m.
Tim LeCras can be reached at timothy.lecras@student.shu.edu.
