"The first play set the tone. Langston Galloway's a brilliant player and he dribbles the ball and [Theodore] takes his dribble," Martelli said. "You get a little gun shy after that. I sensed right away that we had an energy depletion.
"We had a nice rhythm in the first half against their zone, but we had some real empty positions and possessions in the second half. It's November and we've got to get better at it."
Jones and the Hawks, who led by as many as 10 points in the first half, scored at will against a passive Seton Hall zone in the opening 20 minutes. Jones poured in 22 points, connecting on 7 of 8 shots, including 4 of 5 three-pointers.
"Carl Jones is a special player," said Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard. "He's fun to watch unless you're sitting on the other bench. I was praying for him to miss in the first half. He works hard on both ends. Anyone that can put up 38 points in a college game when you're defense is designed to stop him, that's a heck of a player."
At one point in the first half, Jones connected on six straight shots, including three from beyond the arc.
"I was feeling my way around the zone," Jones said. "I was getting into the seams of the zone and doing whatever I had to do to help my team win. My shot was falling."
The Pirates switched to a more aggressive man-to-man defense in the second half and pressured Jones and the Hawks all over the court.
Theodore, who finished with 18 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, matched up with Jones in the second half. And while Jones still managed to score 16 points, he earned every point.
"You're not going to stop a guy like [Jones]," Theodore said. "But you want him to work for every point he gets and that's what I tried to do in the second half."
The Pirates frontcourt, led by forward Herb Pope's 17 points and 10 rebounds, began to wear down the Hawks.
The teams exchanged baskets in the second half until Crosby hit a three-pointer to give Seton Hall their first lead, 49-47, with 14 minutes, 27 seconds left in the game. The Pirates slowly pushed their advantage to 66-59 on Haralds Karlis' three-pointer from the corner with 5:20 left in regulation.
"We didn't have a balanced game," Martelli said. "We didn't have an emotionally balanced game, we didn't have a physically balanced game. Give credit to Seton Hall. They were very physical, they stuck to their man-to-man defense. They played physical and we didn't respond real well."
Sophomore forward Ronald Roberts added 10 points for the Hawks.
