Seton Hall knocks off Monmouth 87-72
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. (AP) — Jeremy Hazell heard more derisive chants from the Monmouth student section with every 3-pointer he made.
If the noise bothered the Seton Hall guard, it hardly showed. Hazell scored 26 points to lift the Pirates to an 87-72 victory over Monmouth on Sunday.
"The Monmouth crowd was getting on me, but I just took that in like that's my crowd," said Hazell, who was 5-for-14 from beyond the arc to go with four assists and three steals. "It just pumps me up to make me play better."
Hazell rebounded from an 0-for-10 shooting effort in Seton Hall's opening win over Saint Peter's last Friday by scoring eight points during a 21-4 run to close the first half.
That included a 3-pointer from 30 feet to beat the buzzer and send the Pirates (2-0) into halftime with a 42-29 lead.
"Jeremy is one of those guys that once he gets it going, it's like opening up the floodgates," Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez said. "You could see he was locked in and that shot at the end of the half, you could almost tell it was going in. But that's why he was the second-leading scorer in the Big East last year. He's just a very dangerous player."
Herb Pope also bounced back from opening-night jitters to post a double-double, scoring 15 points and adding 17 rebounds to help the Pirates gain a 40-33 edge on the glass. Pope, a sophomore forward who sat out last year after transferring from New Mexico State, was 6-for-7 from the field with three assists and two blocked shots.
"He reminds me a lot of a guy named Antoine Walker from Kentucky and the Boston Celtics, because Antoine was a four-man who could do a little bit of everything," Gonzalez said. "I don't think you can find a lot of 6-8 forwards that can get a rebound, handle the ball and not knock a guy over, and then throw a pass on a dime and make the right play. He's a very versatile and talented player."
Jamel Jackson scored 12 of his 17 points in the first half for Seton Hall, which held a double-digit lead for the final 22 minutes of the game.
Travis Taylor led four Monmouth players in double figures with 19 points. Will Campbell contributed 14 points, Ed Waite scored 13 and Mike Myers Keitt added 11 points for the Hawks (1-1), who were hosting their second game in their new on-campus, 4,100-seat Multipurpose Activity Center.
"This was good for us because we got into a nice building with a great buzz and a great environment," Gonzalez said.
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