Pirates’ Ship Runs Adrift

There are certain basketball principles.

Inside beats outside, close beats long. While the No. 3-seeded Oklahoma State Cowboys were scoring from close range, No. 10-seeded Seton Hall kept firing from three-point range.

Misfiring would be a better verb. The Pirates made only seven of 34 attempts (21%), and Oklahoma State escaped with a 68-66 victory Friday at the Carrier Dome.

The Cowboys (27-6) will play Florida in the East Regional final on Sunday.

“We’re happy to get a win and move on, but we certainly need to play better against Florida if we want to move on to Indianapolis,” Oklahoma State Coach Eddie Sutton said.

It was a valiant effort by the Pirates, who had to go without their best player, senior point guard Shaheen Holloway. He damaged ligaments in his ankle during Seton Hall’s second-round game and spent Friday night on the sidelines, his left foot in a soft cast.

Without Holloway, the Pirates had no dribble penetration and virtually no inside game.

Sophomore Darius Lane took 18 three-point shots, an East Regional record. He made only two and shot seven for 24 overall.

Ty Shine, who started in Holloway’s absence and played the entire game, took 10 three-point shots and made only two.

Curiously, the only Pirate who shot a decent percentage from beyond the arc took the fewest shots. Rimas Kaukenas took six and made three.

Those three perimeter players took 55 of the team’s 69 shots and scored 44 (exactly two-thirds) of the points.

“We’re a perimeter-oriented team,” Seton Hall Coach Tommy Amaker said. “That’s what we do. That’s how we got to this point.”

Oklahoma State’s Desmond Mason and Doug Gottlieb are perimeter players as well. Even though Mason had a team-high 16 points and Gottlieb had 12 assists (four more than Seton Hall), frontline players Brian Montonati and Fredrik Jonzen provided the difference.

Montonati had 15 points, including the first six points of the second half. That quick flurry turned a one-point deficit into a five-point lead for Oklahoma State. The Pirates would not lead again, although they tied the score on a three-point basket by Kaukenas with 11:22 remaining and tied it again with 8:07 left.

In addition to scoring 15 points, Jonzen blocked two shots during a late stretch when neither team could take control.

Inside play tends to be rewarded with more free throws, and that’s where the Cowboys won the game. Seton Hall (22-10) had one more field goal and three more three-point baskets, but the Cowboys went to the free-throw line 23 times and made 17 (74%).

The Cowboys made nine of 13 free throws in the final eight minutes to help hold off the Pirates.