NEWARK, New Jersey — Sterling Gibbs scored 18 points and dished out five assists to lead Seton Hall to a convincing 72-43 men’s basketball win over the University of Maine on Saturday afternoon.
Jaren Sina added 13 points for Seton Hall (10-2), which shot 49.1 percent from the field. Khadeen Carrington had 12 points and six rebounds off the bench, while Angel Delgado had 10 points and six boards.
Till Gloger led the Black Bears (1-10) with 12 points while Shaun Lawton added nine points and six rebounds. The Black Bears were without senior forward Zarko Valjarevic, who missed the game with an illness after scoring 22 points in each of Maine’s previous two contests.
Maine coach Bob Walsh said his Black Bears were beaten by a superior team.
“You’ve got to give Seton Hall credit. They’re really, really good,” said Walsh. “They are talented, they’re physical, they’re well-coached, they play hard, they’re deep and they defend. They were too good for us. We’ve got to get a lot better.
The Black Bears jumped out quickly with the game’s first five points, but Seton Hall responded with a 21-0 run, holding Maine scoreless for over 10 minutes.
Delgado and Tom Maayan had six points apiece during the decisive 21-point run and Gibbs had five.
“It would really surprise me if they don’t play in the NCAA tournament,” said Walsh.
The lead reached 23 with 57 seconds to play in the first half on Gibbs’ 3-pointer, but Aaron Calixte made a 3 at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 20 at the break.
It was more of the same in the second half, with Sina’s 3-pointer making the lead 28 with 15:20 to go. The lead got up to 29 with 5:20 to play as the Black Bears could never make a serious run to get back in the contest.
“Their defense really suffocated us. During the first 10 minutes, I think we turned the ball over eight times during a five-minute span. I was disappointed because I felt that affected the way we defended as well,” added Walsh, who noted that the Pirates mixed up their defenses.
Maine returns to action on Monday with a 7 p.m. game against 5-5 Quinnipiac of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Pirates dominated the glass, 46-32, grabbing 18 offensive rebounds in the process. … Maine shot 30.4 percent from the field, including 3-of-19 shooting from 3-point range. … Despite having 11 more field goals, Seton Hall finished with two fewer assists than the Black Bears’ 12.