Steton Hall survives 'Nova run

The Associated Press EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Losing all but one point of a 19-point halftime lead against Villanova didn't seem to fluster Tommy Amaker too much. The positive side was his young Seton Hall team survived the scare and showed signs of maturing, which is more important this early in the season. Shaheen Holloway had 14 points and nine assists and Seton Hall withstood an early second-half challenge before defeating Villanova 68-55 last night. ''We kept our poise and didn't panic when they made their run and things didn't go our way,'' Amaker said. ''I thought if we could withstand the run and maintain the lead, which we did, we would be OK. Losing the lead would have been tough for us psychologically.'' The Pirates (5-3) held Villanova (6-2) to just three points in the final 9:20 in winning the Big East Conference opener for both schools. Rimas Kaukenas led Seton Hall with 15 points and Gary Saunders added 13 and nine rebounds. Howard Brown had a season-high 21 for the Wildcats, who lost their second in a row. After shooting just 29 percent in the first half and falling behind 44-25, Villanova opened the second half with a 27-9 spurt that featured 11 points by Brown. When Jermaine Medley sandwiched a three-pointer and a layup around a free throw by Rafal Bigus, the Seton Hall lead was reduced to 53-52 with 9:20 to play. ''We're still learning as a team,'' senior forward Duane Jordan said. ''Against Minnesota we had the big lead (16 points) and lost it, but tonight we were able to withstand their run.'' Holloway got Seton Hall going again, feeding Saunders for a layup off an inbounds play. He then scored a layup off a steal by Chuck Moore. After a questionable offensive foul against John Celestand, Kaukenas hit a three-pointer after a timeout and the Pirates had a 60-52 lead with 7:32 to play. ''We talked about picking it up on defense and we came out of the time out, got it back together and played defense and began to make things happen again,'' Holloway said. Medley, who finished with 11 points, cut the lead to six points with a baseline jumper, but Holloway nailed a three-pointer off a feed from Saunders. ''Our run was based on our pressure and making them turn the ball over,'' Villanova coach Steve Lappas said. ''When they stopped turning the ball over, we ran out of gas.'' Seton Hall seemed to take control with a 20-5 run late in the first half that featured three three-pointers by Moore. Saunders also had five points in the spurt and Kaukenas four. ''I thought Chuck Moore's effort in the first half gave us a big cushion,'' Amaker said. ''He hit some big threes and it gave us a tremendous lift. That's a momentum builder going into the second half.'' Duane Jordan added eight points and 10 rebounds for Seton Hall, which limited Villanova to 34.5 percent shooting (20 of 58) from the field. Seton Hall shot 56.7 percent in the first half (17 of 30) and it finished 44.4 percent (24 of 54).