The Hall continued their downward spiral of a season Sat. night when they lost to No. 6 Syracuse 76-65, recording their 11th loss in the past 12 games.
Jumping out to a 21-12 lead in the first half the Pirates were hitting shots against an Orange team that Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim described as slow.
"I thought we got off to a slow start," Boeheim said. "They hit some shots early and I thought we did a good job of just hanging in there and keeping our poise."
After Syracuse called a timeout at the 11:14 mark to try and cool the Pirates down, they come back out with a 12-0 run and take a 24-21 lead. Senior guard Brandon Triche, who scored a game high 29 points, accounted for half of Syracuse's points during the run.
Hall head coach Kevin Willard commented on Triche's gameplay tonight.
"I always thought he was the key," Willard said. "I think he's the best player on their team. When he plays the way he plays tonight, they are almost impossible to beat."
While the both teams were going back and forth during the first half Syracuse displayed their ability to separate from the Pirates with pure talent and athleticism. Triche assisted sophomore guard Michael Carter-Williams, who contributed with 14 points and nine rebounds, on three alley-oop dunks throughout the first half.
The first half ended with the Orange holding a 36-30 lead compiling an overall 24-9 run and effectively the momentum of the game after the Halls early lead.
Syracuse came out in the second half and began to control the game, never letting the Pirates get within fewer than six points the entire half. Sophomore guard Aaron Cosby spoke on the Pirates inability to close games out after staying within reach for most of the contest.
"It's not like we get blown out every game," Cosby said. "We're in every one. It's really defense, defensive breakdowns. We just gotta stay mentally tough."
Junior forward Fuquan Edwin, who put up a team high 21 points, felt the foul calls were a little soft towards the end of game in favor of Syracuse.
"I definitely felt that way towards the end of the game," Edwin said. "A couple little chippy fouls that they could've just let go and let us play through that. Because we were definitely grinding on the offensive end, and I felt like we weren't getting that many calls that Syracuse was getting at the end."
Spanning from the 10:22 mark to the 9:39 mark in the second half, five foul calls were placed upon three Pirates.
Free throw shooting hindered the Pirates ability to make the game any more competitive than it already was, hitting only 17-29 from the line. Effectively losing 12 free points in a game that was decided by 11 points.
"That's very frustrating," Edwin said about the missed free throws. "Because even my four free throws that I missed toward the end of the game could've definitely lifted us up. Now we're just looking at a minor setback, that's just something we gotta fix because it's killing us in a majority of our games."
The Prudential recorded an attendance of 13,569 for what was the final Syracuse vs. Seton Hall game in Big East play.
Both coaches did not seem too fixated on that aspect of the game, essentially blocking that out of their thought processes for preparation of the game.
"You're so worried about the game that you don't even think about that," Boeheim said. "People don't believe it but believe it. You don't even think about that stuff, you just gotta concentrate on each game."
Willard did not seem the slightest bit concerned with facing Syracuse for the last time, sounding more disappointed in the fact that the Big East has become the conference of its current state.
"I'm excited about where we're going with our conference," Willard said. "I'm sure they're excited about where they're going. Again, it's a shame of what will become of this conference."
The Pirates will take on No. 18 Marquette at The Prudential Center Tue. at 7 p.m.
Dennis Chambers can be reached at dennis.chambers@student.shu.edu
