PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
By Colin Rajala
Just two seasons removed from an improbable run to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, St. Peter’s University did their best to shock another major conference opponent, but Seton Hall University had
enough answers over the final seven minutes of the game to squash the upset bid and emerge victorious, 70-59, in its season opening contest at the Prudential Center Monday evening.
The Pirates trailed at the half, 27-26, and by as much as six halfway through the second stanza before a layup and three-pointer from graduate guard Al-Amir Dawes off the dish from senior wing Dre Davis gave Seton Hall a 52-50 lead with just over seven minutes left in the game, a lead that they would not relinquish.
“I’m taking a positive out of this, right? The positive is we’re going to get better. I think this is kind of where I don’t want to be, but if you’re peaking right now, you’re in trouble. I don’t care who you are, whatever team it is. So, I think that we’ve got a lot of room to get better,” Seton Hall Head Coach Shaheen Holloway said, after the matchup with his former team.
Like expected, The Hall was led by its triumvirate of Davis, Dawes and senior guard Kadary Richmond, who topped all scorers with 18 points and stuffed the stat sheet with seven assists, six rebounds and six
steals. Davis added 14 points, six rebounds, two blocks and a steal, while Dawes contributed 14 points, including 11 in the game’s final eight minutes, to go along with two assists and two steals.
The Pirates also received solid contributions from senior wing Dylan Addae-Wusu, a St. John’s transfer who finished with 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
The Peacocks from Jersey City, who were paced by senior guard Latrell Reid’s 14 points, expanded their halftime lead to 47-41 following a three-pointer from freshman guard Armoni Zeigler with just over nine
minutes remaining before back-to-back three-pointers from Davis and Addae-Wusu off of respective feeds from Addae-Wusu and Richmond knotted the game up at 47-47.
“We can’t play me basketball. Saint Peter’s, I watched them play and they come off the strong side, they come off the corner,” Holloway said. “And I was telling our guys to just drive it, they’re gonna come off
and kick it. But nobody was trying to kick it, everybody was just going and they did a good job of coming together and walling up. We finally started doing that and we made shots, but guys just gotta start
trusting each other, and I think that comes with experience and playing with each other more.”
Dawes then proceeded to score his first points of the second half with a layup off the dish from Richmond to give Seton Hall a 49-47 lead with just under eight minutes remaining, but St. Peter’s would
not go away easily, regaining the lead 50-49 with less than eight minutes to go on a three from junior wing Michael Houge.
From there, Dawes emerged from the television timeout and connected on a jumper from distance before following it up with two more three-pointers over the next two minutes and change to create
some breathing room, extending the lead to 61-55 with just over four minutes remaining. “I wanted to run some stuff for Al to get Al going, because when Al’s going, we’re a different team as you
guys can see,” Holloway said, after the contest.
Three free-throws from Richmond, who also assisted on dunks from Davis and junior center Elijah Hutchins-Everett in the final four minutes put the game out of reach for the home team, who shot 50%
from the field (21-42), 42.9% from distance (6-14) and 78.6% from the charity stripe (22-28).
Seton Hall forced 17 turnovers, including 12 steals and three blocks, but was outrebounded 32-29, leaving room for improvement on the intangibles.
The Pirates return to action on Saturday Nov. 11 at 4 p.m. when the host Farleigh Dickinson University at historic Walsh Gymnasium.
