Hurricanes Hit No. 22 Seton Hall, 72-66
Feb. 1, 2001
MIAMI (AP) – James Jones scored a career-high 21 points to lead Miami to a72-66 victory over No. 22 Seton Hall on Thursday night.
Jones hit two 3-pointers to key Miami’s 18-2 game-opening run as theHurricanes (11-9, 3-6 Big East) took control and moved out of last place in theconference’s East Division.
Darius Lane scored 16 points to lead the slumping Pirates (12-7, 3-5), wholost their fourth game in their last five.
Seton Hall, which never got closer than six points after Miami’s openingburst, is 0-4 in Big East road games and has lost five of its last six againstMiami.
Jones, a sophomore who was averaging 10.6 points, scored 16 points on 6-of-9shooting in the first half, helping Miami to a 37-29 halftime lead. Overall,Jones was 5-of-7 on 3-point attempts, and Miami made 12 of 24 overall to set aseason high.
Dwayne Wimbley bolstered Miami’s inside attack with 12 points and fiveblocks. John Salmons had 12 points, and Darius Rice added 10 points, sevenrebounds and five assists.
Wimbley and Jones also helped hold Seton Hall’s leading scorer, EddieGriffin, to 12 points and seven rebounds, far below his 19.5 scoring averageand 12.5 rebounding average. Five of his points came in the last 50 seconds.
Lane hit a 3-pointer to narrow Miami’s lead to 40-34 before Wimbley’sback-to-back layups started a 14-4 run. The run was capped by consecutive3-pointers by Joe Gordon and Rice for a 54-38 lead.
Marcus Toney-El’s 3-pointer and Ty Shine’s short jumper made it 61-54 with5:24 left, but Salmons countered with a 3-pointer and Rice slammed home anoffensive putback to make it 66-56 and secure the victory with 3:30 left.
Salmons scored Miami’s first seven points of its opening run. Following alayup from Wimbley, Jones hit consecutive 3-pointers and Rice capped the 18-2run with a 3-pointer.
With 7:37 left in the first half, Rice was stuffed and knocked down afterhitting into Samuel Dalembert and Tony-El. Rice was shaken up, but returned tostart the second half.
