Seton Hall has more and more and more and more guards than anyone.
And fortunately for them last night, they had sophomore guard Chuck Moore.
Moore, the Pirates’ fifth guard, scored 15 points in 15 minutes of action preventing a surprise loss to a less than stellar Georgetown team. Seton Hall won 72-61 in front of a small gathering announced at 8,777 in Continental Airlines Arena.
‘Having 15 points in 15 minutes, maybe I should play him more minutes,” Pirates head coach Tommy Amaker joked. The Georgetown loss blemished the return of Hoyas’ sophomore Anthony Perry. St. Anthony’s all-time leading scorer tallied a team-high 16 points on 5-of-20 shooting. He accounted for just four points in the second half as Georgetown shot just 25 percent in the final 20 minutes.
Seton Hall is 10-4 and 4-1 in the Big East, which is good enough for fourth in the conference. Georgetown is 7-6 and 0-4 in conference, which is their worst start in their Big East history.
Seton Hall led by as many as nine in the first half, but Georgetown cut the lead to 32-31 at the intermission. They did it behind the shooting of Perry, who had 10 points in one four minute span.
Besides Moore, Seton Hall received 14 points from senior Duane Jordan and junior Gary Saunders, 12 from junior Shaheen Holloway and 10 from junior Rimas Kaukenas. Holloway played with an injured right ankle.
‘I’ve never been hurt before a game,” said Holloway, who reported feeling a little sore afterward.
Seton Hall also got excellent play from 6-foot-6 sophomore forward Reggie Garrett, who only scored two points. However both Amaker and Holloway pointed out the extra things he did.
‘It is not going to show up in the stat sheet,” said Holloway, while Amaker pointed to Garrett’s helpful inbounds against the Hoya press among other things.
At two different points, Moore played like the best player in the arena, not the guard who Amaker, heading into last night, deemed his fifth best in terms of minutes played.
In the first half, Moore turned a 12-10 Seton Hall lead into a 19-10 advantage by fueling a 7-0 run. Moore hit two free throws and a three during the spurt.
In the second half, he entered at the 15:54 mark and scored on a driving lay up to make it, 40-36 Pirates. He then added a three to increase the lead to seven. Minutes later at 10:20, Moore hit a three from the corner to extend the Hall lead to 48-40.
Moore and the rest of his teammates, came back from Sunday’s 65-49 loss at Providence. In that game, Moore shot 0-for-6.
Georgetown is obviously not the Georgetown you grew to love or hate. This version of John Thompson’s team is not going to the NCAAs. In fact, right now, one Big East victory would seem mighty.
‘I think we are playing better, but it’s gotten to the point where we got to win some ball games” Thompson, in his 27th season, said.
As for Perry, he earned Big East Rookie of the Week honors yesterday for his performance in the Hoyas’ prior two games. He scored 24 and pulled down eight boards in an 87-64 loss at Connecticut on Sunday. Earlier in the week, he put up 11 points and five steal in a 64-63 loss to Miami.
Seton Hall meets St. John’s Saturday at the Garden.