December 23, 2012, Seton Hall-LIU Brooklyn NCAA Men's Basketball game story for the Associated Press
Seton Hall routs LIU Brooklyn 89-58
NEW YORK - (AP) -- The Barclays Center is LIU Brooklyn's home arena.
Seton Hall made the sparkling new billion dollar arena its house Saturday night.
Brandon Mobley led six Seton Hall players in double figures with 16 points as the Pirates routed LIU Brooklyn 89-58 in the finale of the Brooklyn Hoops Invitational Tripleheader Saturday night.
Gene Teague had 14 points, Fuquan Edwin, Kyle Smith and Brian Oliver each finished with 13 and Aaron Cosby added 11.
"I liked the balance of shooting," Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. "There's a pecking order on our team (offensively). Sometimes you have weird games. It's hard to (score 89 points) but we can because we shoot the ball so well."
Seton Hall evened the all-time series with LIU Brooklyn at 16-16.
The Pirates (10-2) have won eight of their last nine games. The Blackbirds (5-6) have lost consecutive games. Both teams have one more game remaining before conference play begins in January, and Willard said he thinks his team is ready.
"We're shooting the basketball very well," he said. "We are. These guys are starting to understand what makes us good and what makes us bad."
He added, "We won't see too many 89-point games in the Big East conference."
Senior forward Jamal Olasewere led LIU Brooklyn with 27 points. He was the only Blackbirds' player to finish in double-figure scoring. Olasewere also grabbed nine rebounds.
LIU Brooklyn coach Jack Perri said Olasewere has taken on additional responsibility.
"He can't do everything," he said. "We're not going to be successful if (we) do that. We have some guys who can make shots.
"He's a warrior."
For all intents and purposes, the game was decided by Seton Hall's 34-10 run in the final 12:33 of the first half. The Pirates turned a 19-14 deficit into a 48-29 lead at the break. Seton Hall shot 56.7 percent (17 of 30) from the field in first half compared to LIU's 33.3 percent (9 of 27). Nine of Edwin's 11 first-half points came during the run, while Mobley had eight.
"He made shots," Perri said of Mobley. "He's a talented kid. He's a real talented kid. He's a good player."
What prompted the run?
"I threatened their Christmas," Willard said. "Their two days off was quickly becoming double sessions. That got their attention."
The Pirates shot 58.3 percent for the game (35 of 60), including 10 of 21 from long range. LIU Brooklyn shot 35.8 percent (19 of 53) and missed 14 of 18 3-point attempts. Seton Hall's lead grew to as many as 32 points in the second half. The closest LIU Brooklyn was able to get was 22 (69-47).
Seton Hall scored 23 points off of 18 LIU Brooklyn turnovers. The Pirates also outrebounded the Blackbirds 37-26. Twenty eight of Seton Hall's 37 boards came off of the defensive glass.
"Obviously, not real pretty. Things turned quickly," Perri said. "We did a really poor job of tail backing -- that's offensive rebounding (in the LIU system). We have to be better defensively."
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posted by Denis P. Gorman at 2:35 PM
