The Seton Hall men's basketball team defeated Massachusetts 104-79 on the road Saturday night behind a balanced scoring act with seven players in double figures.
Seton Hall's first road victory of the season pushed the Pirates to the .500 mark with a 4-4 record.
Junior Jordan Theodore put in his second straight team-leading scoring performance with 17 points and a career high eight assists in just 23 minutes of play.
The Pirates also received breakout performances from sophomore Ferrakohn Hall and freshmen Fuquan Edwin and Patrik Auda. The players all registered career-highs in scoring with 15, 13 and 10, respectively.
Junior Herb Pope showed glimpses of old, tallying his first double-double of the season. He finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds and also blocked five shots.
The Pirates led 20-17 in the first ten minutes of the half before going on an 18-3 run. The run was highlighted by senior Jamel Jackson's three pointer that gave the Pirates a 27-19 lead. The Pirates' run was capped off by a pair of free throws from senior Jeff Robinson, giving the Hall a commanding 35-20 lead with the 5:54 left in the first half.
UMass would respond with an 8-0 run of their own to bring the score within seven. Robinson broke up the run with a three-pointer to expand the lead back to double digits. The Minutemen responded with another 7-1 run to pull them within four at 39-35.
The Pirates ended the first half on a 9-0 run. The streak was highlighted by a Pope dunk assisted from Jackson. Jackson hit another three pointer with 1:12 remaining to send Seton Hall into halftime with a 48-35 lead.
After six slow starts where the Pirates were outscored in the first half 131-156, Seton Hall shot 50 percent from the field in last night's road contest. The Pirates were six for 15 from three point range and eight of 11 on free throws.
Robinson led Seton Hall with ten first half points while UMass senior Anthony Gurley scored 15 points.
The Minutemen attempted to come back early in the second half going on a 7-0 run that cut the Pirates lead to six at 58-52. Auda answered by scoring the next seven Seton Hall points, including two three-point plays in less than two minutes to extend the lead to 68-54.
The Pirates slowly built their advantage in the second half and finished the game with their biggest lead of the game, 27 points.
They shot 60 percent from the floor for the game while the UMass shot just 34.7 percent.
Seton Hall opens up a five game homestand Monday night at 7 p.m. as they host Longwood at the Prudential Center.
