Top seeded Seton Hall leads No. 8 seed Stony Brook 32-30 at the half in the opening round of the NIT.
Senior Herb Pope leads all players with 11 points in the first half while also pulling down five rebounds. Senior Jordan Theodore added nine points while sophomore Fuquan Edwin has two points and five steals.
Stony Brook is led by junior Marcus Rouse with 10 points while junior Tommy Brenton has four points and a game high seven rebounds.
The Seawolves got the first points of the game with senior Dallas Joyner scoring in the paint. Down 0-2 the Pirates went on a 12-0 run over the next seven minutes. Defense led the run with the Hall forcing 9 turnovers, including five steals from sophomore Fuquan Edwin during the stretch.
After the media timeout with 11:42 left on the clock, Stony Brook got a three from senior Brian Dougher to start a 14-6 run to cut the Hall's lead to 18-16 before Seton Hall's Kevin Willard called a timeout.
Out of the timeout Theodore hit a layup to put the Pirates back four and over the next three minutes both teams would trade baskets to 24-20.
Only holding a 29-27 lead with 15 seconds left in the first half, Pope hit a 3-pointer with the shot clock running down but on the Seawolves ensuing possession, Rouse hit a three just before the halftime buzzer to send the teams into the locker room with the Pirates leading 32-30.
Check back at thesetonian.com for the full game story once the game is completed.
Stephen Valenti can be reached at Stephen.valenti@student.shu.edu
