Seton Hall’s starting rotation only had a few practices to adjust to its new lineup after forward Brandon Mobley injured his knee last week.
The Pirates clearly struggled when they took the floor yesterday against Saint Peter’s, but after devoting most of the opening 20 minutes to getting acquainted, Seton Hall looked like lifelong friends in the second half, when it dominiated en route to an eventual 76-61 triumph at Prudential Center.
Aaron Cosby got the start and filled in with 13 points in 35 minutes. Mobley, who missed the past two games, came off the bench with three points in 16 minutes. Patrik Auda, who was dealing with an injured right foot and had started the past two games, did not play.
“It’s a new lineup and we hadn’t played with that lineup very much. So we only had four plays we could run with that lineup,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. “They were all kind of quick hitters, so we couldn’t really run some clock and make them work. It was more or less we were going to come down and try and get something right away.”
“[Saturday’s] practice more or less was a dummy session. They had one practice together.”
The Pirates’ (5-1) issues in the first half included making only 10 of their 28 shots and just 2-of-13 from 3-point range. They appeared to be out of sync both offensively and defensively. But after trailing 30-29 at the half, the Pirates shot 68 percent in the second half (17-for-25), while limiting the Peacocks to 31 points.
“We started off kind of slow. They were actually making some good shots,” said junior Fuquan Edwin, who had a game-high 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting.
Edwin only played eight minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, before playing the entire second half.
“It was pretty tough. I just had to keep my composure. I felt like the calls weren’t going my way, but I just played smart. … I was just trying to get some range and create. I was just trying to be physical. I felt like I was bigger than the person guarding me so I just wanted to use that as an advantage and go to the hole and be strong.”
St. Peter’s (3-2) beat Rutgers 56-52 earlier this season and always seems to play Seton Hall fairly close. Willard knew that, and told his team its second half likely would be the key to the game.
“We were down one last year at half when we played them,” Willard said. “Either they’re not going to be up big on you, or you’re not going to be up big on them. They do a great job of defending. It was really about that second half — can you separate yourself from them?”
Seton Hall used runs of 11-0, 7-0 and 9-0 to outscore St. Peter’s 32-10 over a 10-minute stretch in the second half to do just that.
Junior Eugene Teague had a double-double for the Pirates with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
“I think we were playing a lot more patient and just letting our offense flow and play our defense,” Teague said. “And everybody was hitting shots.”
Darius Conley and Blaise Ffrench each had 14 points for St. Peter’s.