Box Score NEWARK, N.J. – Seton Hall used a 15-4 run to close out the first half to pull away from Saint Peter's en route to a 67-52 victory in non-conference men's basketball action on Sunday.
Desi Washington (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin [Delaware State]) paced the Peacocks (4-7) with 13 points. Elias Desport (Stockholm, Sweden/Solna Gymnasium) notched a career-high 12 points and Tyler Gaskins (Roswell, Ga./Centennial [Lawson State]) chipped in 11 points in the loss.
Brandon Mobley powered the Pirates (8-1) with 21 points and Sterling Gibbs added 12 points in the winning effort.
One year ago to the day, Washington hit the game-winning 3-pointer against Seton Hall with 3.3 seconds left to propel Saint Peter's to an 83-80 overtime win. The Pirates made sure that Washington did not have the chance to repeat the feat in 2014 after closing out the first half with a strong run and never looking back for its 17th win in the last 18 meetings in the series.
Seton Hall took the lead from the onset, but it was a 15-4 run in the final 4:01 of the half that gave the Pirates its largest lead at 39-27 going into the locker room.
After Washington trimmed the margin to 24-23 on a pull-up jumper with 4:32 left, Gibbs started a 15-4 run with a traditional 3-point play at 4:01 before Mobley hit a jumper at 3:09. Washington momentarily halted the run with a layup at 2:56 before Mobley hit two baskets sandwiched in between a Gibbs 3-pointer for a 36-25 advantage with 1:39 left.
Marvin Dominique (Miramar, Fla./Miramar [Fordham]) and Jamel Fields (Albany, N.Y./Cheshire Academy [Fairfield]) each hit 1 of 2 at the line to trim the deficit to 36-27 with 55 seconds left in the stanza, but a trey as time was running out by Mobley gave Seton Hall a 39-27 margin at the break.
The second half was highly competitive, but Peacocks could never get closer than the halftime margin of 12 points. Seton Hall grabbed its largest margin at 60-39 at the midway point of the second half on a Mobley jumper en route to a 67-52 victory.
The Pirates jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the first five minutes of the game thanks to baskets from five different players.
Saint Peter's then scored six of the next nine points to trim the margin to four points after a Washington jumper with 12:48 on the clock. After consecutive baskets by Seton Hall, the Peacocks used a 13-6 spurt to make it a one-point game at 24-23. Desport had four points in the run, but Seton Hall closed the half with a 15-4 run and never looked back to earn the victory.
Dominique finished the game with nine points and nine rebounds to not reach double figures for only the second time this season in 11 games. Desport notched his second career 10-point performance in five games after recording 10 points against Tennessee State on Nov. 28.
The tilt between the two teams was the 86th meeting in the all-time series and marked the 66th-straight campaign the neighboring towns have battled on the court. The Peacocks were attempting win back-to-back games in the series for the first time since 1982 and 1983 and were trying to sweep Seton Hall and Rutgers in the same season for the first time since 1979. Saint Peter's defeated the Scarlet Knights 68-50 on Nov. 25.
After starting the season 0-4, the Peacocks are 4-3 in their last seven games. The Jersey City team lost its first game against a team from New Jersey this season, posting wins against Rutgers and Princeton.
Saint Peter's, who has played 11 games in 31 days, will have nine days off until its next contest when it hosts Fairleigh Dickinson on Dec. 23. Game time is 4 p.m. It will be "Christmas In Jersey City" Day with holiday music played and special holiday promotions thoughout the game .
