PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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Colin Rajala
Seton Hall overcame a sluggish start to dispatch the DePaul Blue Demons 69-64 in front of plenty of Pirate royalty Sunday afternoon at the Prudential Center.
In front of the 1987-88 Seton Hall men's basketball team, the first to make the NCAA Tournament, and the 1972 Club Football National Championship squad, the Pirates dug themselves an early hole, starting out 0-10 from the field, 0-3 from long distance and 2-6 from the charity stripe while committing four turnovers, which allowed DePaul to take a commanding 15-2 lead in the first eight minutes of the contest. The Blue Demons assisted on five of their first seven makes, which included four layups, two dunks and a lightly contested three.
The Hall broke their field goal-less streak to start the game with ten minutes and 39 seconds remaining when freshman forward Tae Davis passed up a midrange jumper to feed senior forward Tray Jackson down low for an easy layup. Seton Hall settled in after that and proceeded to go on a 16-2 run, including seven points from Jackson, to take a 18-17 lead with just over five minutes remaining on a three-pointer from junior guard Kadary Richmond.
Seton Hall allowed only two DePaul field goals in the closing five minutes to enter the half up with a 26-22 lead, one they would not relinquish the rest of the afternoon. Richmond and senior forward Tyrese Samuel led the Pirates with 14 points apiece with Richmond recording six rebounds and four assists and Samuel tallying seven rebounds and two blocks before fouling out late.
The Pirates had three other players in double figures – graduate forward KC Ndefo with 13, senior guard Al-Amir Dawes with 12 and Jackson with 10.
Jackson chipped in with five rebounds (two offensive) and an assist, Ndefo registered six rebounds, including three on the offensive end, to go along with three blocks, while Dawes stuffed the stat sheet with five steals, three assists and four rebounds.
Pacing DePaul was senior guard Umoja Gibson with 21 points and two assists, while junior forward Da’Sean Nelson and junior guard K.T. Raimey were the only other Blue Demons in double figures with 13 points and 10 points, respectively.
Seton Hall extended their lead to double figures in the first five minutes of the second half, 37- 26, on a Samuel free throw with 15:32 remaining.
The Pirates continued to add to their lead over the ensuing four minutes and took their largest lead of the contest, 48-31, on a Dawes three assisted by Jackson.
All told, Seton Hall went on a 46-16 run over the course of about twenty game minutes spanning the two halves, from the team’s first made field goal by Jackson with 10:39 remaining in the first half to the Dawes three with 11:46 to go in the second half.
DePaul would slowly cut into the lead over the remainder of the game, getting it to as close as five points a few times, with 1:28 remaining, 48 seconds remaining and 14 seconds remaining, but Seton Hall held on and split enough of their end of game free throws to avoid the bad home loss as their March Madness aspirations come into focus.
With the victory, Seton Hall improved to 8-5 in conference play, good enough for fifth place, while DePaul dropped to 3-10 in conference play, tied with Butler for ninth place.
The Pirates return to action at the Prudential Center on Wednesday Feb. 8 at 6:30 as they square off with fourth placed Creighton. The second game of the season series is a quad-one opportunity for the Pirates, who will have a clear path to the NCAA Tournament with a win.
