Seton Hall took an early first half lead and never looked back en route to a 90-68 bounce back road victory over the tenth ranked Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome on Tuesday evening.
The rout snaps a three game skid from the Pirates, and is their first Big East victory since defeating DePaul on January 12. Seton Hall improves to 9-12 on the season overall, with a Big East record of 3-6, while Syracuse drops to 18-3, with a Big East record of 5-3.
The Pirates were paced by senior Jeremy Hazell who led all scorers with 28 points, and added 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. For Syracuse, junior Kris Joseph finished the game with 17 points and 6 rebounds while senior Rick Jackson dropped 12 points to go along with 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 3 steals in his team's third defeat in as many games.
Seton Hall jumped out to an early lead, hitting a perfect ten out of their first ten shots from the field, including three from beyond the arc. They finished the first half shooting 53% (16-30) with an impressive 63% (7-11) from three point range.
On the other side of the court, Jim Boeheim's Syracuse squad finished an abysmal first half shooting just 35% (11-31) including just 12% (1-8) from long range.
At the half, Seton Hall led the dejected Orange by a score of 44-30.
The second half proved to be much of the same for both teams, as Seton Hall set the tempo right away with a 7-0 run on offense, and on defense by allowing just 9 points from the Orange over a span of the first 10 minutes.
Late in the second half, with just six minutes to go, Jeremy Hazell capped an 11-4 run for the Pirates by scoring a fast break layup and one, before emphatically beating his chest and yelling "I'm back!" into the television camera.
Syracuse could barely find the bottom of the rim all night, shooting a dreadful 36% (26-71) for the evening, while Seton Hall cruised to a comfortable 54% (33-61) finish. The Pirates finished the game with five players in double figures and had three players with at least 8 rebounds or more.
Seton Hall looks to continue their winning play as the return home to the Prudential Center for a matchup with the Providence Friars on Sunday, January 30 at 2 pm.
John Lopiano can be reached at John.lopiano@student.shu.edu
