Lester Nets Career-High 12 Points in 77-57 Loss at Seton Hall

Tuesday, December 4

Newark, N.J.

6:30 PM

University of New Hampshire

Seton Hall

New Hampshire

Seton Hall

Photo by: Meghan Murphy

Lester Nets Career-High 12 Points in 77-57 Loss at Seton Hall

12/4/2018 9:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NEWARK, N.J. – Chris Lester (Barrington, Ill.) scored a career-high 12 points as the University of New Hampshire men's basketball team was defeated 77-57 by Seton Hall University on Tuesday night at the Prudential Center.

Lester scored his team-leading 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the floor, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range.He also had three rebounds, three assists and a steal. Jayden Martinez (Cibolo, Texas) was the next leading scorer with nine points.

Myles Powell, who entered the game averaging 24.1 points per game, was held to 10 points. The other four Seton Hall starters also scored in double digits, however, led by Quincy McKnight with 18 points.

UNH is now 2-7 and The Hall improves to 5-3.

LOOKING AHEAD

* New Hampshire returns to action Dec. 9 (12:30 p.m.) at. Niagara University. The Wildcats' next home game is Dec. 19 (11 a.m.) against Marist College. Tickets for all home games are available online at www.unhwildcats.com or by calling (603) 862-4000.

SHOP UNH: Check out UNHShop.com for the latest in official UNH Wildcats' merchandise.

FIRST HALF

* Martinez scored the first points of the game on a 3-pointer from the right wing. The Hall scored five straight points, but then Elijah Jordan (Orlando, Fla.) hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to give the Wildcats a 6-5 lead at 18:20.

* Seton Hall went on an 11-0 run, however, to build a 16-6 lead at 14:20.

* Nick Guadarrama (Newington, Conn.) hit a pull-up jumper at the left elbow to end the run at 12:45.

* Trailing 19-8 with 11 minutes on the clock, Lester connected on a jumper from the right baseline and then Jordan Reed (Lucas, Texas) made a 3-ball from the top of the key to trim the deficit to six points, 19-13, at 10:09.

* The Pirates answered with five consecutive points to reestablish a double-digit lead of 24-13 at 8:24.

* With the home team leading 26-16, Myles Cale and Michael Nzei hit back-to-back layups to give Seton Hall it's largest lead of the half -- 14 points (30-16) -- at 1:50.

* Lester's 3-pointer from the left corner trimmed the margin to 30-19, but the Pirates made one foul shot with 1.6 seconds remaining to take a 12-point lead into halftime.

SECOND HALF

* Jordan and David Hall (Bucyrus, Ohio) made back-to-back 3-pointers to trim the deficit to single digits, 35-28, at 15:38.

* Seton Hall's 10-5 spurt extended the margin to 45-33 with 12 minutes remaining.

* Leading 46-35, the Pirates scored six consecutive points to build a 52-35 advantage at 9:59.

* Reed's 3-pointer from the top-left wing was followed by Lester's 3-ball from the right side to lift the 'Cats within 52-41 at 9:07.

* Seton Hall went on an 8-0 run spanning 2 minutes, 26 seconds to quickly push its lead from 12 points to 20, 63-43, at 4:45.

SERIES NOTEBOOK

* This was just the second lifetime meeting between the UNH and Seton Hall men's basketball programs. The Pirates won the previous meeting, 93-80, on Dec. 28, 1995.

UNH NOTEBOOK

* This was the seventh consecutive game UNH used a different starting lineup with Jordan Reed, Elijah Jordan and Mark Carbone in the backcourt, and Nick Guadarrama and Jayden Martinez in the frontcourt.

* It was the first career start for Guadarrama and just the second for both Carbone and Martinez.

* Carbone matched his career high of four assists.

* Jordan finished with seven points, team-high five rebounds, two assists and a block.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

* UNH's field goal percentage improved from 30.4 percent (7-23) in the first half to 42.4 percent (14-33) in the second. That improvement also included from 3-point range: 4 of 14 in the 1st half to 7-for-15 in the 2nd.

* SHU's field goal percentage also improved from half-to-half at 38.5 percent (10-26) to 54.8 percent (17-31).

* Seton Hall finished with a 38-29 rebounding advantage that included 10-6 on the offensive glass, and a 13-4 edge in second-chance points.

* The Pirates also had the edge in points in the paint (38-8) and fastbreak points (15-1).

* Seton Hall made 15 of 22 free throws in comparison to UNH's 4-for-6 at the foul line.