St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
7-5, 0-1BE
Seton Hall
9-3, 1-0BE
St. John's Falls In Overtime
1/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2006
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - Kelly Whitney scored 23 points and Donald Copeland added 20, leading Seton Hall to a come-from-behind 69-61 overtime victory over St. John's in the Big East opener for both schools Wednesday night.
Seton Hall (9-3, 1-0) trailed by 20 with 11:54 left after freshman guard Paul Gause put the ball in the wrong basket off an inbounds steal. But the Pirates stormed back in the closing minutes, capped by Gause's leaning 12-foot corner jumper at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
In the extra session, Copeland connected on 3-of-4 free throws, the third of which gave the Pirates their first lead of the game, 58-57, with 4:16 left. Gause then added a driving layup and Whitney nailed a jumper, giving Seton Hall a 62-57 lead with 2:36 to go.
Whitney canned four free throws in the closing seconds to ice the biggest comeback win in coach Louis Orr's five-year tenure at Seton Hall. Copeland scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half to key the Pirates' rally.
St. John's (7-5, 0-1) was led by Aaron Spears, who had 15 points - 13 of them in a torrid first half. Eugene Lawrence had 14 points and 10 assists for the Red Storm.
St. John's, which played without leading scorer Daryll Hill (knee injury), took the lead in the opening minutes and never trailed in regulation.
