By Zack Cziryak
Tournament runs and championships, even for dominant teams and programs, are always the culmination of lots of little things going in the same direction. None of those seemed to happen for the Seton Hall Pirates in a 91-72 loss to host St. John’s Thursday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
After cutting a Johnnie lead to 39-38 with a 7-0 run, the Pirates (20-12) went into the half down 45-40 and proceeded to give up six straight points to start the second half and give the Red Storm their first double-digit lead of the game following a Glen Taylor Jr. offensive rebound and putback through contact with 17:35 to play in the second.
St. John’s (20-12) would keep the Pirates at bay from there as the extended the lead to its largest of 19 to end regulation.
Pirate guard Al-Amir Dawes led all scorers with 22 points on 9-15 shooting, 4-10 form beyond the arc and a perfect 5-5 elsewhere, while St. John’s transfer Dylan Addae-Wusu tallied 15 points and Kadary Richmond notched 13 to round out Seton Hall’s double-figure scorers.
The Red Storm got double-figures from 5 players, including a team high 18 points off the bench from RJ Luis, who’s first half buzzer beater extended the Johnnie lead to 45-40 and captured all the momentum heading into the break. Center Joel Soriano reached a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
St. John’s shot only 34.8% from three but dominated inside the arc by shooting 24-39, including 15-20 from two in the first half, and knocked down 19-20 free throws for a sterling 95%. They also dominated inside the paint, typically the Hall’s recipe for victory, to the tune of 42-26.
The Pirates exit the Big East Tournament after their opening game for the second straight year, Shaheen Holloway’s first two as head coach of his alma mater, while St. John’s will face the #1 seed and reigning national champion Connecticut Huskies in the early game of the Friday night semifinals.
The Hall will now await their name (hopefully) being called on Selection Sunday.
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