Seton Hill continued a tough stretch of games as they close out the first half of the PSAC West schedule with three games in five days. The Griffins concluded that stretch with a road game at #9 Gannon on Wednesday evening.
A late rally by the Griffins came up just short as Gannon was able to defeat the Griffins by an 83-79 score. SHU is now 12-8 overall and 7-7 in the PSAC. Gannon is now 18-2 overall and 12-2 in the PSAC.
Gannon jumped out to an early 8-2 lead over the Griffins. The Griffins used a
Ryan Meis three and back to back layups from
Brian Belade as they took a 9-8 lead with 14:50 left in the first half. Gannon responded with a 14-0 run as they built a 22-9 lead with 12:27 left in the half. The Griffins then scored the next seven to cut the lead to 22-16 at the midway point of the half.
A three point play from
Kedrick Curtis and a three pointer from
Jimmy Moon trimmed the lead to 24-22 with 6:52 to play. The Griffins trailed 35-30 with 2:18 to play but the Golden Knights scored the final eight points of the half for a 43-30 halftime lead.
The Golden Knights built their lead to as many as fifteen points over the first 10 minutes of the second half.
A layup from
Caleb Whitaker followed by back to back threes from
James Rice and
Camden Brewer trimmed the lead to 61-56 with 8:41 to play in the second. Back to back threes from the Golden Knights pushed the advantage back to 13 at 73-60 with six minutes left. With four minutes to play, the Knights led 77-63.
The Griffin comeback attempt began with a three point play from
Caleb Whitaker. A layup from Green and a three from Meis cut the lead to 77-71 with three minutes left. Moon's three point play cut the lead to 77-74 with 1:48 left. Gannon's two free throws were answered by a three point play from Curtis that made it 79-77 with 59 seconds left. Gannon then hit two free throws with 23 seconds left after an offensive rebound to go up four. Curtis hit two of two from the line to make it 81-79 with 18 seconds left. Gannon hit two free throws and then forced a SHU turnover after a missed three to close out the game.
Curtis led the Griffins with 16 points. Belade finished with 12 points. Whitaker added 11 points and Green also reached double figures with 10.
Seton Hill will travel to Slippery Rock for another important PSAC West contest on Saturday afternoon as they begin the second round of PSAC West play.
