PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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By Zack Cziryak
The more things change the more they stay the same.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Villanova Wildcats won a back-and-forth game against the Seton Hall Pirates with late game execution and near flawless free throw shooting, missing their first and only of 23 free throw attempts in the final seconds before downing the Pirates 76-72 on senior night in Newark, N.J. on Tuesday night.
Eleven seconds after a Tyrese Samuel 3-pointer would give the Pirates a 65-63 lead, Justin Moore would drive and finish a left-handed layup to tie the game with 1:33 remaining. The Wildcats would draw a foul on the next possession and, being in the double bonus, would wind down the rest of the game by hitting 9 of 10 free throws to preserve the victory.
Moore closed the Hall out almost by himself, finishing with 23 points on 6-10 shooting and knocking down all 9 of his free throw attempts, including 8 in the final minute. Freshman Cam Whitmore added 19 points and 5 boards on 3 of 4 from long range while Eric Dixon tallied 18 points and 8 rebounds and snagged the final steal off a long inbound pass to effectively seal Nova’s victory with under 10 seconds left.
Al-Amir Dawes paced the Pirates with 21 points and 4 assists, including 3-5 from beyond the arc and 8-9 from the free throw line, while Odukale added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds to go along with 6 assists and 2 steals. The Hall also saw 14 points and 5 rebounds from Tyrese Samuel on senior night as well as 9 points off the bench from Dre Davis.
The Wildcats finished the game shooting 53.7% from the field, including 43.5% from 3-point range on 23 attempts and 95% from the free throw line, while the Pirates actually shot 8 of 18 from beyond the arc for 44.4% while shooting 45.5% from the field overall and 77% from the line on 14-18.
The Hall outrebounded Villanova 28-21, assisted on 14 baskets compared to 9 for the Wildcats and turned the ball over only 13 times to 14 for its opponent.
The Pirates snagged a 29-25 lead with three and a half minutes left in the first half on the strength of back-to-back three by Odukale and Dawes before taking a 37-34 lead into the half. The lead came on a three-pointer from Dawes on a find from Odukale on a broken play that saw The Pirates recover and capitalize in a play where things went right. It was a play that you almost always see go Villanova’s way and felt in the moment like a harbinger of good things to come for Seton Hall.
The loss drops the Pirates to 7th place in the Big East and locks the Hall into the position for Big East seeding purposes. The Hall will look to finish the regular season with a .500 conference record in its regular season finale against Providence against the Friars on Saturday.
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