By Colin Rajala

Seton Hall entered its Saturday afternoon matchup against Creighton at the sold-out CHI Health Center without its two leading scorers on the season – Isaiah Coleman (15.8 ppg) and Chaunce Jenkins (11.4 ppg) – but you would not have noticed it in the first half as the Pirates led the majority of the opening twenty minutes, 13:53, behind a balanced effort that saw five different players score at least five points.

The second half was a different story for the depleted visiting squad’s resilient upset bid as Creighton’s two graduate stars – center Ryan Kalkbrenner and guard Steven Ashworth - proved to be too much to handle as they combined to score 51% of the Bluejays’ points in the 79-54 win, including 71% of the team’s first half points.

Kalkbrenner finished with a game-high 23 points on 9/10 shooting from the field to go along with nine rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals, while Ashworth tallied 17 points, shooting 5/8 from long distance, and nine assists as sophomore forward Issac Traudt was the only other Bluejay in double figures with 10 points off the bench.

Seton Hall was led by forward Prince Aligbe’s 12 points and guard Garwey Dual’s 10 point, five assist, four rebound performance, while center Emmanuel Okorafor tallied eight points and four rebounds and wing Scottie Middleton recorded seven points, three rebounds, one block and one steal.

The Pirates opened the game allowing Kalkbrenner to assert himself with early paint touches, luckily only to the tune of three points on two possessions, before Dual connected on back-to-back jump shots from the foul line for the early 4-3 advantage.

Creighton started the game 0/6 from three-point range and Seton Hall capitalized with a 7-0 run that included midrange and three point jump shots from Middleton followed by another Dual midrange shot for the 11-5 edge less than five minutes in.

After Creighton knotted the score at 13-13 on a three from Ashworth, freshman guard Jahseem Felton regained the lead with a three of his own off the assist from guard Dylan Addae-Wusu, who returned to action, playing 15 minutes, after sitting out the last three contests with a foot injury.

The Pirates took their largest lead of the game 28-20 on another midrange jumper from Middleton, this time off the dish from Dual before Kalkbrenner and Ashworth combined for their own 8-0 run over a one minute and thirty second span to tie the score with 3:34 to go in the half.

After a dunk from Okorafor tied the game again, Ashworth connected with Kalkbrenner for an alley oop layup before the seven-foot-one-center found Traudt for a layup for the 32-30 lead, which they would build up to a 38-34 halftime lead.

The two teams committed five turnovers each in the first half, but Creighton’s ability to do more with the miscues proved to be a big difference in the first half as they held the advantage in points off turnovers, 12-7, and fast break points, 6-0.

Creighton started the second half with a 9-0 run capped by a Kalkbrenner slam for the 47-34 lead to keep Seton Hall at arm’s distance the rest of the way, growing its lead to the largest of the game at 76-50 with under five minutes remaining.

Weekend results
Marquette > Villanova
Creighton > Seton Hall
Xavier > UConn
Providence > Georgetown
Butler > DePaul

1/28
St John’s @ Georgetown 6:30
Providence @ Seton Hall 7:00
Marquette @ Butler 8:30
1/29
DePaul @ UConn 8:00
Xavier @ Creighton 8:00

Savannah Catalon returns with 12 points and six steals.

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Graduate student Faith Masonius (Spring Lake, N.J.) had team-highs of 16 points and eight rebounds and the Seton Hall women's basketball team pulled away from St. John's in the fourth quarter for a 57-48 victory in Walsh Gymnasium on Saturday.

Trailing by five points early in the fourth, Seton Hall shut down the Red Storm the rest of the way, using a 14-0 run to take the lead for good.

Playing in her first game since Dec. 14, sophomore Savannah Catalon (Mansfield, Texas) scored 12 points, pulled down four rebounds and matched her career high with six steals. Freshman Jada Eads (Orlando, Fla.) finished with 11 points, three rebounds and three steals.

THE STORY:
Yaya Lops (Stamford, Conn.) hit a three-pointer with 5:54 left in the second quarter to end an 0-for-10 streak for the Pirates from downtown. The trifecta put The Hall up, 20-14. A jumper by Eads put Seton Hall on top, 24-17, but St. John's closed the first half with a 7-0 spurt to send the teams into the locker room tied at 24. The Hall shot just 29 percent from the floor and was out-rebounded, 27-to-13, in the first half, but the Pirates forced 13 turnovers to keep the game close.

A layup by Masonius tied the game at 28, but St. John's answered with an 11-2 run to grab a 39-30 advantage with 4:23 left in the third quarter. The Hall bounced back with back-to-back three-pointers by Eads and Catalon, and a pair of made free-throws by Eads cut its deficit to just one point, 39-38, with 30 seconds left in the third.

Down 43-38, Seton Hall went on a game-changing 14-0 run, capped by a three-point play by Masonius, to give it a 52-43 lead with only 2:35 remaining. The Pirates held St. John's to just two points for the first 7:44 of the fourth quarter. Kaydan Lawson (Cleveland, Ohio) scored seven of her nine points in the game's final 8:00 minutes, including a huge three-pointer with 7:46 left that gave Seton Hall the lead for good.

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THE NUMBERS:

• Seton Hall was 20-for-52 (38.5%) from the floor for the game, while St. John's was 19-for-48 (39.6%). The Hall was 4-for-20 (20.0%) from three-point range, while the Red Storm were 6-for-22 (27.3%).
• Masonius finished with 16 points, 12 of which came in the second half. She also had a team-high eight rebounds with three assists and two steals.
• St. John's out-rebounded The Hall, 37-to-27, which included a 9-to-6 edge on the offensive glass, but the Pirates had a 12-to-5 advantage in second-chance points.
• Catalon had 12 points, four rebounds and matched a career-high with six steals. She also drew five charges.
• Seton Hall was 13-for-16 (81.3%) from the free-throw line, while St. John's was 4-for-8 (50.0%).
• Eads tallied 11 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists.
• Seton Hall forced 23 turnovers, while the Red Storm forced 13. The Hall had a remarkable 25-to-2 advantage in points-off-turnovers.
• Lawson tallied nine points, including seven in the fourth quarter, to go with three assists, two rebounds and two blocks.

THE NOTES:

• Seton Hall improves to 14-5 overall and 6-2 in BIG EAST play, while St. John's falls to 11-9 overall and 1-8 in conference play.
• The Hall is now 40-50 all-time against the Red Storm and has now won seven of the last nine meetings.
• Catalon made her return to the Seton Hall lineup after missing the first seven BIG EAST games with an injury.
• St. John's had 14 rebounds in the first quarter today, but collected only 10 in the second half.
• The Pirates improve to 136-51 in Walsh Gym during the Bozzella era. Furthermore, the Pirates are now 63-38 against BIG EAST opponents at home.
• Seton Hall forced at least 20 turnovers today for the 11th time this season. It's also the 15th time in 19 games that the Pirates have forced more turnovers than their opponent.
• The Pirates collected at least 10 steals for the 13th time this season.
• St. John's is Seton Hall's 11th opponent held to 55 points or fewer this season. The Pirates are 11-0 in those games.

UP NEXT:
Seton Hall will return to action on Wednesday, January 29 when it returns to historic Walsh Gymnasium to take on BIG EAST rival Butler. Tip time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The game will be streamed live by the BIG EAST Digital Network and available for FloCollege subscribers. As always, 89.5 FM WSOU or wsou.net will also carry the contest.

MAHA, NE. — Despite a strong first half, the Seton Hall men's basketball team fell to Creighton, 79-54.

The Blue Jays (14-6, 7-2 in the BIG EAST) shot 58% from the field, while the Pirates (6-14, 1-8 in the BIG EAST) were without their two leading scorers and shot 43% from the field.

How It Happened
Without leading scorers Isaiah Coleman and Chaunce Jenkins due to injuries, the Pirates entered the game looking to see which players would take up the mantle. After going down 2-0 following the tip, Garwey Dual stepped up for The Hall. Dual netted a pair of foul-line jumpers to put the Pirates up 4-3 with 18:02 left in the half. Quickly after, Scotty Middleton would also net a foul-line jumper and a corner three to extend the Pirates lead. Dual would cap off the Pirates explosive start with another pull-up jumper to go up 11-5 with five minutes gone in the half.

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Creighton would tie the game up at 13-13 with 12:33 remaining in the half, but the Pirates quickly rebounded to find themselves back in front off strong paint play. Emmanuel Okorafor and Prince Aligbe each collected a pair of buckets to extend the Pirates lead back to six, 24-18, with 7:28 remaining in the half. The Hall's lead would grow to as large as eight, 28-20, with 5:25 left before the break before Creighton caught a burst of momentum. In the final five minutes, Creighton closed the half on a 18-to-6 run to send the Pirates to the break down four, 38-34.

Out of halftime, Creighton's momentum from the end of the first half continued. The Blue Jays opened the half of a 12-to-3 run to put The Hall down 13, 47-34, with fifteen minutes remaining in the half. Dylan Addae-Wusu cut the deficit to 10, 47-37, with 14:55 remaining in the game, but the Pirates struggled to put the deficit under double-digits. Despite the team's best effort, the deficit continued to grow. When the final buzzer sounded, Seton Hall fell to Creighton, 79-54.

News & Notes

• This is the 31st meeting between the two BIG EAST institutions.
• With the loss, the Pirates move to 16-15 all-time against the Blue Jays.
• Seton Hall had nine steals to Creighton's five.
• With 12 points, Aligbe registered his fifth game with double-digit points in his last six games.
• Garwey Dual recorded a career-high 38 total minutes.
• Jahseem Felton recorded a career-high 27 total minutes.

Up Next
The Pirates return home to face Providence at the Prudential Center on Tuesday, January 28, at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Peacock.

We played a pretty damned good first half. Defense was very good, other than failing to fight through screens amd allowing some open threes. Dual surprised me with a pretty good all around game...by far his best this year. As Nick Bahe pointed out, we looked very good with mid-range/pull-up jumpers.

In the final analysis we took yet another butt-kicking, but at least there were a few nice things in that opening half. These days I'll take whatever good we are able to muster.