By Zack Cziryak
Bad things happen to ranked opponents in Newark, N.J. this season.
Senior Dre Davis sank a bucket to extend the Seton Hall men’s basketball team’s lead to three points with 6.4 seconds and a desperation heave from reigning Big East Player of the Year Tyler Kolek sailed to the right to preserve a 78-75 victory for the Pirates in Newark, N.J. Saturday afternoon.
The Pirates (10-5, 3-1) continued an impressive start to Big East play by notching its 3rd straight ranked victory and 2nd straight top-10 win at home after knocking off the Golden Eagles (11-4, 2-2).
The Hall kept what appeared to be a shootout early on close as a Dylan Addae-Wusu 3-pointer cut a Marquette lead to 9-8 before the Pirates would fall behind 21-13 following a Kam Jones jumper from the arc.
Trailing 25-18 after a pair of free throws from MU’s Sean Jones, reserve big man Elijah Hutchins-Everett would put his head down and deliver a left-handed hook layup finish with around 10 minutes remaining in the half to jumpstart a 12-3 run that would end with the Hall’s first lead since the early minutes of the game at 30-28 following a banked in floater from Al-Amir Dawes.
A pullback three by Dawes would put the Hall up 38-30 late in the half, but a 9-3 run from Marquette would cut the score to 42-39 heading into intermission.
The second half would see Seton Hall keep Marquette at arm’s length before building a 76-66 lead capped by back-to-back transition dunks from the Pirates that seemed to put the game away in the game’s waning minutes. But a 9-0 run from the visitors would cut the margin to one before Davis’ tough shot finished the game’s scoring for good.
Dawes paced the Pirates with 23 points, including 15 in the first half, and was joined in double digits by Kadary Richmond with 21 and Dre Davis with 11.
Forward Oso Ighodaro led the Golden Eagles with 22 points on 9-14 shooting while adding 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. While David Joplin chipped in 15 points and 3 blocks and Kam Jones notched 13 points, but on only 5-15 shooting, including 3-10 from beyond the arc.
The Pirates would finish 52.7% from the floor on 29-55 shooting and 6-15 from beyond the arc for 40%, assisting on 17 of those baskets while limiting the Golden Eagles to 43.1% and 35.7%, respectively.
The Hall also finished 14-16 from the line, with one of those misses the front-end of a 1 and 1 by Addae-Wusu with seconds remaining in the game. The Pirates also controlled the boards 43-25.
Marquette stayed in the game after the hot start by forcing 22 turnovers and converting them into 32 points, but ultimately came up short for the second time in two road conference matchups following a defeat in Providence.
The win moves Seton Hall to a 3-1 start in conference play and the team has produced victories in four of its last five games, holding serve at home in every matchup except last month’s stumble against in-state rival Rutgers.
The Pirates next hit the road for a pair of games as they travel to Washington D.C. to face Georgetown on Tuesday before matching up with Butler next Saturday in Indianapolis. They return home Jan. 16 for a game against Rick Pitino’s St. John’s Red Storm on Jan. 16.
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