Men's Basketball Loses Highly Competitive Contest to Div. 1 & Big East Seton Hall (84-79)

Box Score

The men's basketball team lost a highly competitive exhibition to the Division I and Big East Program of Seton Hall University on Saturday afternoon in South Orange, New Jersey.

The visiting Bearcats put together a scrappy effort and led by as much as 11 points (25-14) in the first half, but the Pirates were single-handedly carried to the home win behind a career-high 40 points from potential All-American Isiah Whitehead to avert the upset.

The Bearcats shot 12-of-18 from three-point range, including 6-of-8 in the first half, to quiet the home crowd at historic Walsh Gym.

The game went down to the wire and a Jack Shanahan layup gave the Bearcats a 75-74 advantage with 3:10 left, but the Pirates did not miss down the stretch to narrowly walk off with the win.

Chimaechi Ekekeugbor, playing in his home state of New Jersey, paced the Bearcats with 20 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Bryler Paige (4-5 3fg) and Raymond De La Cruz (5-6 3fg) scored 17 points each, while newcomer Doyin Issac had 11 points, three assists and two steals.

Despite the much taller and athletic players of Seton Hall, which featured 2014-15 Big East Freshman of the Year in 6-foot-9, 245 pound center Angel Delgado, the Bearcats only trailed 37-33 in the rebounding category.

Today's game against Seton Hall is the men's fifth all-time encounter against a Division I opponent after playing in past years against Yale (twice), Rutgers, and Manhattan.

The Bearcats still have plenty of preseason remaining and will officially begin their 2015-16 schedule on Friday, November 13, with a 7:30pm home contest in the ARC Arena against Montclair State University.

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