Seton Hall leads Mercer by two points at the end of the first half.
Seniors Herb Pope and Jordan Theodore scored back-to-back buckets, giving the Hall a one-point lead, 4-3, with three minutes into the game.
Freshman Brandon Mobley made his first appearance after being medically cleared, contributing an assistant to teammate Aaron Cosby's 3-pointer and a defensive rebound with little over 10 minutes left to play,
With nine minutes remaining, Pope received the ball off a teammate's drive to the lane, dunking the ball and getting fouled, scoring three of his first-half nine points.
Less than a minute later, sophomore Fuquan Edwin drained a 3-pointer, increasing the Pirates' run to 13 points with the score being 19-6.
Mercer came back with two straight 3-pointers and an alley oop to sophomore forward Daniel Coursey, cutting the score to 19-14.
After Pope rebounded and converted his own miss, Coursey answered on the other end of the court with another dunk, landing Mercer within two points.
Sophomore forward Patrik Auda sank a 3-pointer off Theodore's pass, giving the Pirates a seven-point lead.
The Bears, however, wouldn't go away,. Mercer went on a six-point run until Auda again scored for Seton Hall, making both his foul shots on 1-for-1.
With one minute remaining in the first, Mercer cut the Hall's lead to one-point on two occasions.
The Pirates end the first half with a two-point lead, 31-29.
