NEWARK — Aaron Cosby knows all about the many talented freshmen at St. John’s.
He’s especially familiar with Big East Rookie of the Year candidate Moe Harkless. Cosby and his Northfield (Mass.) Mount Hermon team split a pair of games last season against Harkless and South Kent (Conn.)
“I played against Harkless a few times in prep school last year,” Cosby, the Seton Hall freshman, said after pouring in a career-high 19 points Sunday in the Pirates’ 73-66 win over Pitt. “And I played against D’Angelo Harrison in the Derby City Classic All-Star Game.
“Those guys are good. They’re talented. Those are the top guys on their team. They’re the offensive firepower, so those are the guys we gotta key on on Tuesday.”
Seton Hall (17-8, 6-7 Big East) is riding a modest two-game win streak and is hoping to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive when it hosts St. John’s (10-15, 4-9), losers of three straight. The game will be shown live on SNY at 7 p.m.
While Harkless and Harrison have received press all year long, Cosby seems to be coming into his own late.
The 6-foot-2 guard from Louisville is averaging 12.7 points over his last three games and is 10-for-20 from downtown in those games. He hit two big 3’s against Rutgers in last Wednesday’s win and then went 5-for-9 from deep in the win over Pitt.
“[Saturday] in practice he must’ve made about nine 3’s in a row and you could see he wanted to shoot the basketball again,” Pirates coach Kevin Willard said.
“I thought the guys did a good job early of recognizing the fact that he was making shots….He’s got the ability to do that on a nightly basis.”
Said Cosby: “My teammates did a good job of finding me and my teammates did a good job of finding me. And Pitt left me open a few times, so I had to make them pay.”
Cosby hopes to help make Harkless and St. John’s pay Tuesday.
The Pirates need to keep on winning to have a chance at their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2006.
“We just gotta keep winning one at a time,” Cosby said. “Stay on this winning streak and let the rest take care of itself.”
Photo: South Orange Juice
