Seton Hall Leads Wire To Wire In Rout Of Xavier
By Colin Rajala
Just three days removed from a one-sided road loss at Villanova, Seton Hall adjusted its sights to Xavier and avenging a double figure loss in Cincinnati 53 days ago. The Pirates did just that – rising to the occasion and paying back the Musketeers with a lopsided 88-70 win Wednesday evening at the Prudential Center.
“It’s unacceptable. I took that [loss at Villanova] personally on the chin, not having my team ready to go against a good team. And give these guys credit, for two days, we had two hard days of practice and they came out ready to go,” Head Coach Shaheen Holloway said, after the 18-point rout.
With the victory, Seton Hall (16-9, 9-5) climbed back into a tie for third place in the conference standings with 17th ranked Creighton, while Xavier (13-12, 7-7) fell into a three-way tie for fifth place with Butler
and Providence.
The Hall won in convincing fashion, leading wire-to-wire and assisting on 64% of its field goals with four players in double figures in what turned out to be a Valentine’s Day massacre.
The Pirates jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on back-to-back threes from graduate guard Al-Amir Dawes off assists from senior forwards Dre Davis and Dylan Addae-Wusu before Xavier recorded its first basket more than two minutes into the game.
Seton Hall Hall extended its lead to 10-2 before the first media timeout after senior guard Kadary Richmond connected on floater in the lane and then found graduate center Jaden Bediako down low for
an easy layup.
The Pirates defense forced Xavier into seven turnovers before the visitors scored their second field goal nearly nine minutes into the game, but by that point Seton Hall had already begun to pull away, leading
18-2. A layup from Xavier’s Dayvion McKnight closed the score to 23-11 with less than ten minutes remaining, which would be the closest the Musketeers would get the remainder of the first half.
Seton Hall shared the ball well and assisted on three pointers from freshman guard Isaiah Coleman and Davis along with a layup from Addae-Wusu for an 8-0 run to help balloon their lead to 31-11 with eight
minutes to go.
The Pirates saw all eight players who entered the first half score as they closed the half up 47-25, shooting 17/31 (54.8%) from the field and 5/11 (45.5%) from distance, while assisting on 14 of their 17 made baskets with Richmond accounting for nine dimes. It was just as much the defense excelling as the offense for Seton Hall as they turned Xavier over 10 times, including four steals and three blocks, which
led to 12 points for the home team.
“Just playing hard and playing with energy, we didn’t do that at all [on Sunday]. So, that was something I preached, that’s something my teams always do, and we came out and did it tonight,” Holloway said.
Seton Hall maintained its double-digit lead throughout the second half and when Xavier made its push, drawing the score to 70-56 with just over eight minutes remaining, the Pirates had the answer as Dawes
found Richmond inside the Musketeers’ zone defense for an easy bucket to stymie any notion of a comeback.
Richmond led the Pirates with 20 points and was just two rebounds shy of his second career triple-double, recording a career-high 13 assists and 8 rebounds to go along with two steals.
Dawes scored 18 points, including 4/6 from long range, Bediako tallied 12 points and 9 caroms, while Coleman came off the bench to chip in with 14 points.
“I think all the good teams have a good bench, a guy that comes off the bench and plays well. We’re trying to be one of those teams. We’ve gotta get a couple more guys to play like that, but it’s good to have him [Coleman] coming off and playing. I thought when Kooks was out, (Coleman) starting those games definitely helped his confidence get back up. He played big for us tonight, and we need him to continue that,” Holloway said.
Davis was perfect from the field, recording 9 points in 13 first half minutes before sitting the entire second half with an injury to his right leg, while Addae-Wusu scored 8 points along with 3 rebounds and 3
assists.
“I don’t know too much right now [about Davis’ status]. I know they said his ankle kind of swelled up. He tried to come out in the second half and warm up, and he couldn’t do too much, so Tony [Testa] shut him down,” Holloway said.
Pacing Xavier was Quincy Olivari with 25 points and 6 rebounds, while McKnight was the only other player in double figures for the visiting team with 11 points.
Seton Hall returns to action with a trip to Long Island to face off with St. John’s Sunday at 5 p.m.
