Senior guard Jeremy Hazell scored a game-high 27 points as Seton Hall outlasted Alabama, 83-78, in the first round of the 2010 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam on Friday.
The Pirates advanced to play the Iowa-Xavier winner in Sunday’s semifinals.
“They made a couple of tough shots and got up on us and went on a nice early run,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard told The Star-Ledger by phone. “But I think our guys did a nice job of coming back. We went from being down 11 to being down one. I don’t think we started off slow, I just don’t think we started off well.”
Hazell was 5-for-6 from three-point range as the Pirates put on a three-point shooting clinic. In all, Seton Hall was 10-for-13 from behind the three-point arc and shot 55.1 percent overall on the floor for the game.
“I haven’t been around him long enough, but he looks like he’s locked in,” Willard told the Ledger about Hazell. “He’s concentrating, he’s working hard. He played really good defense at the end of the game, too. He came up with two big stops and played really well at the end there.”
A pair of Hazell free throws with just three seconds remaining iced the game for the Pirates.
Jeff Robinson added 14 points, Herb Pope had 13 points and four blocks and Jordan Theodore tallied 11 points.
Seton Hall started the game hot by jumping out to a 6-2 lead on the strength of a four-point play from Hazell, but the Crimson Tide came storming back with a 13-2 run capped by a thunderous dunk from Senario Hillman to give Alabama a 15-8 lead with 16:33 left in the first half.
Trailing 26-17, the Pirates went on a 7-0 run including three-pointers on back-to-back possessions from Hazell and Robinson to pull Seton Hall to within two at 26-24 with 9:01 before halftime.
The Crimson Tide jumped back out to a seven point lead at 35-28, but the Pirates went on a 9-0 run highlighted by three-pointers from Theodore and Hazell to give Seton Hall a 37-35 lead with 2:51 remaining in the first half.
Alabama ended the first half with a 7-0 run to send the Pirates into the locker room down five, 44-39.
Both teams scored at a blistering pace in the first half. Seton Hall shot 50.0 percent from the floor, while Alabama shot 58.6 percent. More impressive was the teams’ three-point shooting. Alabama was 5-for-6, while Seton Hall was 6-for-7 from behind the arc.
Hazell led all scorers with 19 first half points. Hillman led the way for Alabama with 16 points.
The hot shooting continued for both teams as the second half began. A Robinson three-pointer pulled Seton Hall to within one and four minutes later, a three-pointer by Fuquan Edwin gave the Pirates their first lead of the second half, 54-52, with 13:27 left to play in regulation.
Seton Hall exploded offensively mid-way through the first half. A 10-0 run, highlighted by the strong inside play Pope and capped by yet another Hazell three-pointer, pushed the Pirates’ lead to 67-55 with 8:25 remaining.
Alabama, however, came storming back with an 8-0 run of their own to pull the Crimson Tide to within four at 67-63 with 6:46 left.
A three-pointer by Alabama’s Trevor Releford sliced the Pirates’ lead to three, 73-70, with just 3:51 remaining, but alas the Crimson Tide would get no closer.
(Game info courtesy Matt Sweeney; Photo courtesy Star-Ledger)
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