The men's basketball team fell to Butler, 64-57, in another tough loss in front of their home crowd at the Prudential Center on Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs took control of the game in the final minutes, finishing on a 13-2 run down the stretch that the Pirates just could not answer.
"This group is a little perplexing because they have the ability but they're just not doing it," Pirate's head coach Kevin Willard said. "We play timid at times and we play selfish at times when we're home, and that just doesn't seem to happen on the road."
Seton Hall only received points from five of its players throughout the contest. They had multiple scoring opportunities during the final minutes of regulation but missed some stretch run open shots from the floor and free throws.
"I think our defense in the second half, especially down the stretch, was tremendous," Butler's head coach Brandon Miller said. "We made some defensive plays, rebounded the ball well and we were able to get stops, and that was the difference in the game."
Senior Fuquan Edwin got off to another hot start with 15 points in the first half, but cooled down in the second as he was kept off the board during the final 12 minutes of play. Edwin led the Pirates with 20 points and 6 steals.
Four players scored in double digits for the Bulldogs, who were led by senior Khyle Marshall and sophomore Kellen Dunham. Marshall, Butler's leading scorer on the road, finished with 13 points and Dunham, who knocked down consecutive triples to give his team a late lead, finished with 9 points.
"They're a pretty good team and we had a shot to put them away earlier and we just didn't do it," Edwin said. "We let them stick around and they made some good plays towards the end."
Eugene Teague had a presence down low, coming away with 13 points and 6 rebounds. Junior Brandon Mobley also had a standout performance off the bench for Seton Hall with 10 points and 10 rebounds to go along with a few key blocks throughout the game.
"It's frustrating when you play that hard and come up short," Mobley said. "Unfortunately we're not a good enough team to exchange baskets with other teams. They got one more stop than we did and that was the game."
The Pirates will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio to begin a two-game road trip against Xavier on Saturday, Feb. 1. Tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m.
Mike Romano can be reached at michael.romano1@student.shu.edu.
