PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
Zack Cziryak
Trove correspondent
The Seton Hall Pirates continued their run in the National Invitation Tournament with a 72-58 home win over defending tournament champ North Texas Saturday afternoon in South Orange, N.J.
The Pirates (22-12) overcame a slow start with suffocating defense, limiting the Mean Green (19-15) to 34.9% from the field and 32% from beyond the arc while notching 7 blocks, including 4 from Dre Davis alone. North Texas had rung up 84 points in a road victory at LSU in the first round of the NIT.
A sloppy start to the game saw Seton Hall fall behind 8-3 and trailing 14-8 heading into the second media timeout, before six straight points from the bench spurred a 10-0 run and the first Pirate lead of the day over the ensuing 6 minutes.
North Texas, which finished 7th in the American Athletic Conference, would retake the lead 22-21 with 3:46 remaining in the first half before a 12-2 Pirate run would close out the half with a 33-24 Hall lead, capped by a 3-point buzzer beater from freshman Isaiah Coleman as time expired.
A Jason Edwards three to start the second half would cut the Pirate advantage to six, the closest the Mean Green would come as the Hall incrementally extended the lead to game high 24 points after an Al-Amir Dawes layup at the 4:46 mark left the blue and white up 70-46.
Davis finished as the Hall’s leading scorer with 18 points on 7-11 shooting, adding four rebounds to go along with his four blocks, while Kadary Richmond notched a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 15 rebounds while tallying six assists.
Jason Edwards paced North Texas and all scorers with 23 points and was joined in double-figures by C.J. Noland’s 11 and 10 from Rubin Jones.
Seton Hall assisted on 15 of 28 made baskets and finished 48.3% from the floor, including 9-20 from three for 45%, while also converting on all seven free throws. The Pirates also held the paint advantage to the tune of 34-24 and outrebounded the Mean Green 38-33.
The victory sends the Pirates to a quarterfinal matchup with the winner of Sunday afternoon’s Boston College-UNLV matchup, with the Hall hosting for the third straight game before the NIT final four held in Indianapolis this year.
The next matchup will be held Wednesday night, 7 or 9 PM at Walsh.
