Seton Hall wins in NIT like it's 1956
JORDAN THEODORE scored 21 points, Herb Pope had 20 and Seton Hall snapped an 11-game losing streak in the NIT by holding off visiting Stony Brook, 63-61, last night.
JORDAN THEODORE scored 21 points, Herb Pope had 20 and Seton Hall snapped an 11-game losing streak in the NIT by holding off visiting Stony Brook, 63-61, last night.
The win is the first for the Pirates (21-12) in the event since 1956.
Stony Brook (22-10), two-time regular-season champions of the American East Conference, didn't make it easy. Bryan Dougher had a three-pointer bounce off the rim with about 2 seconds to go, and Tommy Brenton had a rebound follow roll off the rim at the buzzer. Dallas Joyner had 14 points and nine rebounds for the Seawolves, and Dougher finished with 12.
"We made an emphasis early to lead the way," said Theodore, who shot 8 of 17 from the field. "We took the majority of shots. Guys understand it's postseason and me and Pope are going to lead and be at our best every night. That's why you see us being more aggressive than you've seen in the past. That's how it is going to be going forward.
"Me and Pope understand if we lose we're out, and our Seton Hall career is done. We don't want to lose. We want to go out with a championship."
In other games *
At Mississippi State, Chaz Williams scored 28 points, Sean Carter added 20 and Massachusetts (23-11) outlasted the Bulldogs (21-12), 101-96, in double overtime. Arnett Moultrie scored a career-high 34 points and Dee Bost added 20 for Mississippi State.
UMass had a 72-68 lead with 2:48 remaining in regulation, but MSU's Arnett Moultrie hit a turnaround shot and later sank two free throws with 41.1 seconds left to tie the game at 72. The Bulldogs had a chance to win in regulation but Bost's 12-foot runner in traffic missed as time expired.
* At Iowa, freshman Aaron White scored a career-high 25 points, sophomore Zach McCabe tied a career high with 20 and Iowa (18-16) rolled past Dayton (20-13), 84-75. The game was played at Iowa because the Flyers' home court was the site of the opening NCAA games. Iowa's raucous, near-sellout crowd put the higher-seeded Flyers at a major disadvantage.
Iowa, which was playing in its first postseason tournament game in 6 years, broke open a tie game with a 16-3 run midway through the second half to go ahead 65-52.
* At Tennessee, Jarnell Stokes scored 13 points and the Volunteers beat Savannah State, 65-51. Trae Golden had 11 points, and Yemi Makanjuola and Josh Richardson both added 10 for Tennessee (19-14). Rashad Hasaan scored 20 points to lead the Tigers (21-12).
* At Northwestern, John Shurma's three-pointer with 1:34 to play gave the Wildcats (19-13) a 76-74 victory over Akron (22-12). Shurma finished with 23 points and Drew Crawford had 27 for Northwestern, while Quincy Diggs led the Zips with 18 points.
* At Middle Tennessee, LaRon Dendy had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Middle Tennessee (26-6) beat Marshall (21-14), 86-78.
* At Oregon, the Ducks (23-9) defeated LSU (18-15), 96-76 as Devoe Joseph scored 25 points.
* At Washington, Terrence Ross scored 23 points as the Huskies (22-10) held off Texas-Arlington (24-9), 82-72.