PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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By Zack Cziryak
In a game that felt like it would never end in the city that never sleeps, the Seton Hall Pirates not only pulled out a sloppy victory over St. John’s but extended it to double digits when the final buzzer sounded.
The Hall, which was down as many as 13 in the first half and 8 points midway through the second, shut the door on St. John’s by the end of an otherwise back and forth game that saw 44 total fouls, outscoring the Red Storm 52-37 in the second half to finish the 84-72 contest.
The game’s pivotal moment came when St. John’s guard Andre Curbelo and Hall wing KC Ndefo received a double technical following a floater from the latter that would give the Red Storm a 2-point lead. The pair had gotten chippy only moments earlier and the technical led Curbelo to slam his glasses to the ground in frustration and a second technical that facilitated his ejection.
Al-Amir Dawes would sink two free throws to knot the game at 46 before the Johnnies responded to the kerfuffle by taking a quick 52-46 lead, aided by Seton Hall’s foul situation, which saw the Pirates with 4 players sporting 4 fouls apiece and the team already at the 10-foul mark by the under 12-timeout.
Not long after the Hall had clawed back to a 2-point deficit on the strength of Holloway’s switch to a 2-3 zone defense, Dawes sunk back-to-back transition 3-pointers to take a 61-57 lead, one they would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest.
Dawes paced the Pirates with 21 points, including the 3-pointers that helped propel the Hall toward victory, while Kadary Richmond had a quietly monstrous game by tallying 15 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals. KC Ndefo chipped in 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks while Jamir Harris had arguably his best game of the season with 10 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds off the bench.
The Red Storm were paced by A.J. Storr’s 15 points while Posh Alexander notched 13 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds and David Jones chipped in 11 points and 4 boards off the bench. Joel Soriano nearly added to his number of nation-leading double-doubles with 9 points and 10 rebounds on a generally off-night for the big man that saw him go scoreless in the first half.
The Pirates assisted on 19 of 31 field goals compared to 11 dimes on 24 field goals for the Johnnies, finishing 50% from the floor on 62 attempts, including 9-20 from beyond the arc compared to 40.7% and 7-15, respectively, for the Red Storm. Neither team excelled at the line, finishing the Pirates finishing 13-22 for 59% compared to 63% for St. John’s on 17-27 shooting.
The Johnnies also ended with 17 turnovers compared to 14 for Seton Hall even after the latter had accumulated 9 in the first half. The Hall generated 28 points off of those turnovers compared to 10 from St. John’s.
The victory marks the 7th in 9 games for the Pirates and their fourth on the road in conference play after victories over other Big East bottom dwellers Butler, DePaul and Georgetown.
The Pirates return to action and to home on Sunday to hopefully complete a season sweep of DePaul in a noon tilt at the Prudential Center.
