Sophomore center Fab Melo has tallied six points and eight blocks to help the No. 1-ranked team in the country, Syracuse University, take a 34-15 halftime lead over Seton Hall University in a Big East Conference game at the Carrier Dome. The Orange (13-0), who are playing their first league contest of the season, are looking avenge a blowout loss to the Pirates (11-1) who defeated SU on its home floor last year, 90-68.
Senior point guard Jordan Theodore has tallied 10 points for Seton Hall, which began the game missing its first nine shots, including four from behind the 3-point arc, and trailed 8-1 in the game's first 4 1/2 minutes.
Seton Hall's first basket came on a put-back by Theodore, who cut the SU advantage to 8-3 just six minutes into the game. From there, behind six points from Waiters, Syracuse slowly pushed its lead to 26-14 after sophomore forward C.J. Fair nailed a jumper with 4:19 to play.
Then, Melo took over swatting away three shots, collecting two points and two points in the final four minutes.
Fair ended the half with four points, while junior guard Brandon Triche and sophomore guard Dion Waiters each chipped in with eight.
Statistically, Seton Hall finished the first half shooing just 5-for-27 from the floor (18.5-percent), while Syracuse made 14-of-37 shots (37.8-percent). The Orange ended the half with 10 blocks.
SB Nation New York is blogging live from press row at the Carrier Dome Wednesday night, as the Syracuse Orange host on Big East rival the Seton Hall Pirates. Be sure to check back for a postgame recap and quotes from both head coaches -- SU's Jim Boeheim and SHU's Kevin Willard. Visit SB Nation's Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician for more on Syracuse and South Orange Juice for everything Seton Hall. Follow us along on Twitter at SBNationNY or JaredSmithCNY.