NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Seton Hall men’s basketball team fell to #18 Syracuse, 89-74, in the second round of the BIG EAST Championship on Wednesday evening at Madison Square Garden. The Pirates were led by sophomore Jeremy Hazell (Harlem, N.Y.), who scored 27 points.

Seton Hall (17-15) scored the first basket of the game, a three-pointer by Hazell, but Syracuse proceeded to score the next eight points, taking an early 8-3 lead.  The Pirates, however, answered right back with a 7-0 run, which included five points from Hazell, to give them a 10-8 lead with 14:30 left in the first half. 

Syracuse (24-8) went on a 13-0 run capped by a Jonny Flynn three-pointer to give the Orange a commanding 21-10 lead with 11:14 to go before halftime.

The resilient Pirates went on a 10-2 run fueled by John Garcia (Brentwood, N.Y.) to cut the Syracuse lead to three, at 27-24 with 5:29 remaining in the first half.  Syracuse’s Andy Rautins hit a three-pointer to push the Syracuse lead to 32-24, but two straight baskets by Robert Mitchell (Brooklyn, N.Y.) cut the Orange lead to four, at 32-28 with 2:20 to go.

The teams exchanged baskets over the final two minutes of the first half and Syracuse carried a five point lead, 36-31, into halftime.

Seton Hall’s Robert Mitchell and Syracuse’s Jonny Flynn had huge halves for their respective teams.  Mitchell led the Pirates with 12 points and nine rebounds, while Flynn had 15 points and five assists. 

Syracuse shot 46.9% from the field in the first half compared to Seton Hall’s 38.9%.

Seton Hall came out of halftime on fire.  The Pirates connected on three-pointers by Hazell and Gause to put them ahead 37-36, their first lead since 3-2.  But Syracuse’s Eric Devendorf connected on a three-pointer of his own to give the lead back to the Orange, 39-37 with approximately 17:00 remaining.

With the score tied at 44, Syracuse went on an 8-0 run, fueled by five points from Devendorf, to take a 52-44 lead.  Moments later, Rautins hit another three-pointer to push the Orange lead to 12, at 59-47 with 12:25 to go.

The Syracuse lead would grow to 17, at 64-47, but Jeremy Hazell scored five straight points to knock the Orange’s lead down to 12 points.  Rautins and Hazell then traded three-pointers to make the score 67-55, and Syracuse got five points right back, capped by a Devendorf three-pointer, which pushed the Syracuse lead to 19 points at 74-55, with 9:09 remaining in regulation, and the Orange never looked back.

Mitchell had 15 points and pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds. Garcia scored 12 and picked up seven boards.

Syracuse had 30 assists on 37 field goals, and tied a BIG EAST Championship record previously set by Georgetown in 1985.