NEWARK, N.J. ? The Monmouth University men's basketball team went into overtime against Seton Hall, but fell to the Pirates 89-81 on Sunday afternoon in their inaugural game at the new Prudential Center. The Hawks fall to 0-2 on the young season, while the Pirates are now 1-0. The eight-point deficit marked the closest game ever between MU and the Hall.
Monmouth's Whitney Coleman (Salem, Conn./East Lyme) missed a three-pointer at the regulation buzzer after Seton Hall's Eugene Harvey tied the game at 72-72 with a pair of free throws. The Hall outscored Monmouth 17-9 in the overtime period for the win.
Jhamar Youngblood (Elizabeth, N.J./St. Patrick's) led Monmouth with 27 points, while R.J. Rutledge (Baldwin, N.Y./Northfield Mount Herman Prep) added 13 points and Alex Nunner (Leibnitz, Austria) contributing 11 off the bench.
The Hawks cut the Pirates lead to three at 54-51 following a George Barbour (Torrance, Calif./Torrance) dunk off a no-look find in transition from fellow freshmen James Hett (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) at the 7:45 mark of the game. Rutledge was then fouled while taking a three and connected on all three free throws to make the game 56-54 with six minutes left in the second half. The Hawks then cut the lead to a single point at 58-57 with 4:50 left after a Coleman traditional three-point play.
The Hawks and Pirates then traded advantages with MU taking a 59-58 lead following a Youngblood shot-clocking beating, fade away jumper at the five minute mark, but the Pirates Laing answered right back to give the hosts a 60-59 lead with 3:39 showing in the game.
The game picked up pace as Nunner found Hett backdoor to give MU a 63-60 lead, but the Hall responded with a Jamar Nutter three-pointer. Rutledge gave Monmouth a 66-63 on a three of his own at the 2:00 minute mark, but Jeremy Hazell tied the game at 66-66 after his canned a three-pointer. Barbour hit one of two free throws to give MU a 67-66 lead with a minute to go in the game. Seton Hall's Davis then gave the Pirates a 68-67 lead with two free throws with 51 second showing, but Monmouth's Nunner drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key to give the Hawks a 70-68 lead with 40.2 seconds left.
Harvey tied the game at 70-70 with a floater for the Hall, but Barbour tipped in a Youngblood miss to give Monmouth a 72-70 lead with 10 seconds left in the game. Harvey then drove and was fouled by Nunner with 5.5 seconds left, and the sophomore hit two free throws to tie the game at 72-72. Seton Hall thought they stole the inbounds pass, but they were out of bounds and Coleman missed a three-pointer at the buzzer on Monmouth's ensuing possession that would have won the game, but the two Garden State teams went into overtime.
Seton Hall went on a 7-0 run to start the extra frame as Davis opened overtime with a left-corner three-pointer and Harvey hit two free throws and slashing lay in to give the Pirates a 79-72 lead with 3:12 left.
The Pirates raced out to a 4-0 lead before Monmouth knotted the game behind a Jhamar Youndblood drive and a pair of free throws, one by Dutch Gaitley (Haverford, Pa./Archbishop Carroll)) and the other by Rickie Crews (Westville, N.J./Deptford)), at the 15:42 mark of the first half.
Seton Hall took an 8-6 lead following a pair of Eugene Harvey free throws at the 10:21 mark of the first half after the Hawks had held a brief 6-4 lead following a Youngblood floater in the lane.
Monmouth shot just 2-of-12 the first ten minutes of the game and committed eight turnovers, with the Pirates shooting 3-of-19 in that span.
Seton Hall used a 11-0 run keyed by five straight points from Paul Gause and a three-point field goal from Jeremy Hazell to take a 19-7 lead at the 7:41 mark. A Gaitley jumper from the right wing ended the Hall's run with just less than seven minutes to play, and Nick DelTufo canned a three-pointer from the top of they key to cut the lead to 19-12 at the 6:26 mark.
The Seton Hall lead swelled to 28-12 with 3:50 left in the game first half as the Pirates used a 9-0 scoring run with Brian Laing adding a three-pointer and a break away dunk. R.J. Rutledge ended a four-minute scoring draught and keyed an 8-0 for Monmouth with a break away lay up and three-pointer at the 1:30 mark of the opening half, and Alex Nunner () buried a three to make it 32-20. The hosts took a 35-22 lead into intermission after a Larry Davis three-pointer.
The Hawks were led by a trio players, DelTufo, Youngblood and Rutledge, with five points apiece in the first half.
MU came out of the halftime locker room on fire as DelTufo connected on a traditional three-point play and Youngblood tallied a quick five points to cut the lead to 38-30 with 18:20 left in the first half. Youngblood converted a traditional three-point play to cut the Hall lead to 41-36 with 16:00 minutes left in the game. The sophomore phenom then stole a pass at midcourt and dunked home the ball to make it 45-40 with 13:00 minutes left in the game. Nunner then fed Coleman on a text book backdoor cut to keep the Pirates lead at bay at 47-42 with 11:35 left in second half.
Monmouth shot 47.6 % in the game, but was done in by 23 turnovers, including 16 in the first half. The Hall shot 42.3 % for the game, including hitting 10-of-24 three-point field goals. Harvey scored 27 points, while Laing added 18 and Davis scored 14.
Monmouth returns to action on Friday, November 16 when they take on their second straight Big East opponent in Notre Dame at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tip for the Hawks opening game in St. Thomas is set for 8:30 p.m.
