University of Maine
Seton Hall
Seton Hall Pirates Cruise Past Men's Basketball, 72-43
12/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Poor shooting and a short bench proved to be deciding factors in the Maine men's basketball loss to Seton Hall, 72-43 on Saturday afternoon. The post-Christmas loss drops Maine's record to 1-10 while the Pirates improve to 10-2.
A squad that was without its senior-leader, Zarko Valjarevic, due to illness, shot just 30.4 percent from the field and even worse from beyond the arc (15 percent) as Seton Hall shot near 50 percent in the winning effort.
The Black Bears lone offensive bright spot was Till Gloger who notched 12 points and recorded five rebounds in the game. Sophomore Shaun Lawton, who had a streak of recording one steal per contest broken two games ago, notched his second-straight with at least one theft, as he shook off a slow start and finished the game with nine points, six rebounds and three assists.
Seton Hall abused the Black Bears in the paint as the squad scored 38 of its 72 below the basket. The Pirates had four players record double figures, as guard Sterling Gibbs led the way with 18. Angel Delgado (10 points), Jaren Sina (13 points) and Khadeen Carrington (12 points) were the other double-figure scorers.
Rebounding and turnovers returned as major problems for the Black Bears as the squad turned the ball over 20 times to Seton Hall's 15, while The Pirates outrebounded Maine 46-32.
The Black Bears opened up the game strong scoring the first five points, as Gloger hit a patented bucket in the paint and Calixte drained a trey in the first two minutes.
Seton Hall took over however as the Pirates didn't allow a Maine basket for more than 10 minutes jumping out, 27-5 just over halfway through the contest.
Gloger broke the scoreless streak at the 8:23 mark to make it 21-7 as the Pirates finished out the half on a 15-9 run to go into the break down 36-16.
Seton Hall opened up the second half on a 10-5 run to extend its lead to 46-21 headed into the under 16:00 media timeout.
Coming out of a team timeout minute's later Maine went on a brief 6-0 run sparked by four points from Gloger and a Lawton bucket to cut the lead to 49-27.
Despite the run, Maine couldn't keep pace with a Seton Hall offense that scored 36 points in both the first and second half, as the squad was outgunned 36-27 in the final frame as the Black Bears fell by the final score of 72-43.
The Black Bears will have a quick turnaround as the squad now travels to Hamden Conn., to face the Quinnipiac Bobcats on Monday, Dec. 29 at 7 p.m. That will be the final non-conference game before Maine heads into America East play.
