With leading scorer Jeremy Hazell out indefinitely after surgery to repair a broken wrist, Seton Hall has been looking for someone to provide an offensive spark to replace him. That player could very well be freshman forward Fuquan Edwin.
''Fu (Edwin) is really developing nicely and is starting to understand his role,'' Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said after the 6-6 freshman scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds, leading the Pirates to a 78-51 win over Longwood Monday night.
''He's been naturally building every game,'' Willard said of the freshman, who scored 13 in the Pirates' 104-79 win over Massachusetts on Dec. 11. ''He has a great motor and high energy. He's coming off screens better and realizing what's a good shot and what's a bad shot. He's more than just a 3-point shooter. He's become more of a slasher who can score.''
Edwin's point and rebound totals were career highs, helping the Pirates improve to 5-4 overall. Longwood (3-8) lost for the sixth straight time.
Other than Edwin, the Pirates also received 17 points and seven assists from Jordan Theodore, who has been solid all season for the Pirates, averaging 12.4 points and a team-leading 4.3 assists per game.
Jeff Robinson added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Pirates, who took an early 19-5 lead and never looked back.
Antwan Carter paced Longwood with 15 points. Martiz Washington had 12 and Aaron Mitchell 10 for the Lancers.
After Longwood's Mitchell scored the game's first points on a jumper, Seton Hall took command of the game by scoring the next 10 points over a 3:10 span. Edwin scored five of the points, four coming off rebounds down low.
The Lancers kept climbing back into the game and drew to within three, 27-24, on a 3-point field goal from David Robinson, but the Pirates outscored the Lancers 19-5 over the rest of the first half to take a 46-29 halftime lead.
Edwin had eight of the Pirates' 19 points during the final six minutes of the first half and ended the half with 13 points.
Longwood came out inspired in the second half and cut the lead to 56-47 with 10:14 left on a driving basket by Mitchell. But Longwood could only muster four more points over the final 10-plus minutes.
''We did a nice job cutting the lead under double-digits and getting back into the game,'' Longwood coach Mike Gillian said. ''But then we didn't score.''
After Longwood cut the lead to nine, the Pirates scored the next five points, two on a power move from Edwin and a 3-pointer from Theodore to push the lead back to double-digits at 61-47 with 8 minutes left.
Freshman Patrik Auda scored four straight points, both baskets coming off passes from Theodore, to give the Pirates a 65-47 lead with 6:20 left.
The Pirates kept the pressure on from that point and pulled away down the stretch, with the final score being the largest margin.
''We can't do that for 30 minutes,'' Gillian said. ''We have to play for the whole game. The reality is that we didn't play for the last 10 minutes. We need more of a consistent effort.''
''I think it was more that they were tired than it was our defense,'' Willard said. ''They're a well coached team who can shoot the ball well. They just got a little tired. We struggled on the offensive end and just didn't come out as sharp as we wanted to.''
