PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Mike Poole (Rosedale, N.Y.) shot 6-of-9 to score 14 points off the bench and Eli Carter (Paterson, N.J.) added 13 points, but it was not enough, as Rutgers (12-13, 4-8) dropped a 59-54 decision to Seton Hall (16-8, 5-7) Wednesday evening at the RAC. The Scarlet Knights shot just 31.5 percent (17-54), including 26.1 percent (6-23) from behind the arc, to suffer their third consecutive loss.

In a game that featured eight lead changes and four ties, Rutgers took a 50-48 advantage on Dane Miller (Rochester, N.Y.) three-pointer with 3:08 remaining. Seton Hall answered with a trey of its own and would not relinquish the lead for the remainder. The Pirates scored eight of the contest’s final 12 points to secure the victory.

RU forced 19 Seton Hall turnovers, but could not fully capitalize as missed layups tormented the home squad all evening. The Pirates scored 18 points off Rutgers’ miscues, while the Scarlet Knights managed 14.

Seton Hall jumped-out to an early 8-2 lead. RU responded and remained close for the majority of the opening stanza, before taking its first advantage, 26-24, after a pair of Carter free throws with 1:33 to go before halftime. A tip-in by Poole at the buzzer sent Rutgers into the locker room at the midpoint with a 28-26 edge.

The Scarlet Knights led by as many as four points on three occasions early in the second half but were unable to consistently make shots to maintain the momentum.

Seton Hall made 42.9 percent (21-49) of its field goal attempts, including 35.3 percent (6-17) from long range. The Pirates out-rebounded the Scarlet Knights by a 38-30 margin.

Rutgers returns to the hardwood next Wednesday (Feb. 15) evening at Notre Dame. The contest will be televised live nationally on ESPNU.

POST GAME NOTES

• Mike Poole matched his career high with 14 points. The sophomore posted double-figures for the fifth time this season, 10th time in his career. The sophomore filled the stat sheet with four rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
• It marked the first time Poole has paced RU in scoring this season, third time in his career.
• It was the first time since Richmond (18 games) that neither Mack nor Carter paced the Scarlet Knights.
• Carter posted double-figures for the 19th time this season. Carter has scored 10-plus in five of the last seven games.
• RU moves to 1-4 when Biruta records just one field goal.
• Rutgers falls to 26-35 all-time against Seton Hall, winning two of the last four. Of the last 16 meetings, 14 have been decided by six points or less or in overtime, including this five-point loss.
• RU moves to 15-15 in the series at home.
• The Scarlet Knights drop to 8-4 when leading at the half.
• Kadeem Jack saw seven minutes of action in the first half, the most for the freshman this season. He ended the game with a career high four points and three rebounds in a personal-best 15 minutes. 
• Rutgers forced Seton Hall into 13 first half turnovers, the most for an opponent since UConn on Jan. 7.
• Of the 10 players that saw action, five scored six-plus points.
• Prior to the game, Rutgers basketball honored United States Corporal Gary Twedak, who served a tour of combat duty in Iraq as a Team Leader/Humvee Gunner.
• Rutgers swiped 10 steals, for the second-straight contest and eighth this season. 
• RU falls to 4-10 when less than three players score in double-figures.
• The .315 percent shooting from the field marked the lowest for RU this season and the worst since Louisville last year on Feb. 22.

POST GAME QUOTES

Head Coach Mike Rice

On key to game: “Finishing. As I watched our game, we just didn’t finish any opportunities tonight. Whether it was fast break transition numbers or layups from our big (men), we settled for too many jump shots and you have to finish in games like these. It was a grinding game. It was a game I thought was on our side. It didn’t have a great flow to it and I think we did a tremendous job on the ball screens … But you aren’t going to win games when you miss free throws and you can’t make layups.”

On Herb Pope’s late three pointer: “Toughness and a will to make that shot at that point and time to put the momentum right back in their favor. For the next two possessions, I think we settled for poor jump shots — three point shots.

On lack of experience in close games: “Eventually that gets old. We do lack experience how many times have I said that? But you have to grind this out. You have a tremendous student section, tremendous support, and you’ve got to make layups, finish free throws and finish the game off.”

On defending Jordan Theodore: “Maybe half of them were un-defendable because we turned the ball over and he got layups. I thought we did a pretty good job of making Jordan work. I thought we did a tremendous job on ball screen defense. It’s just when he’s that aggressive, he’s going to get his.”

Head Coach Kevin Willard

On snapping the losing streak: “I’ve been happy with my team the whole time, even though we haven’t been winning. We’ve been giving good effort, we just haven’t been scoring. I thought they battled in a very tough environment against a very good basketball team. I’m just really happy that we were able to make some shots to give us a little confidence as the game went on.”

On the Herb Pope three pointer: “We ran what we call a ‘power five’ because they had just called three technical (fouls) and we thought the game might get a little tighter. (The play was) for Jordan to go off and get a bump foul and Jordan threw it back to him and said let it go. I was just praying that it would go in to be honest with you.”

On Jordan Theodore’s performance: “Jordan had three great days of practice. He led us well in practice and was a sounding voice all week and I thought that was a huge difference.”

On having to calm players down: “The good thing about it was it gave us a good five minute break. It gave a chance for Herb and really the whole five who had been out there the whole half to get their breath back. That’s one reason we made some plays down the stretch. That was a long timeout.”

On coming back after a six point play: “The Pope three was big, but really the next two possessions were huge. Fuquan (Edwin) gets a big deflection and I thought Brandon Mobley, the way he rebounded the ball in the second half, was the difference in the game.  We didn’t give up any second shots, easy points in the second half. I thought that was the difference.”