PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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By Zack Cziryak
Much like matters of the heart, Seton Hall’s victory on Valentine’s Day was a painful, drawn-out affair.
The Hall and Hoyas combined for 30 turnovers and 42 fouls in a game that saw Georgetown cut a lead that had been as large as 15 in the second half to 4 points twice in the last minute. The Pirates ultimately hung on to to a 76-68 victory Wednesday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
The Pirates sealed the victory with 4 straight free throws, knocking down 23 of 27 in the second half and finishing 75% from the charity stripe overall after a 5 for 10 first half.
The win moved Seton Hall to 16-11 and preserved its NCAA Tournament chances by avoiding the last landmine on its regular season schedule as the Hoyas drop to 6-21.
Al-Amir Dawes tallied his 10th double-figure scoring game in 11 contests, finishing with a game-high 20 points. Tyrese Samuel notched a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Kadary Richmond and KC Ndefo rounded out the Pirates’ double-figure scorers with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Georgetown was led by 16 points from Primo Spears while Jay Heath added 12 points and Bradley Ezewiro tallied 10 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. The Hoyas also saw solid contributions from Akok Akok, who finished with 9 points and 8 rebounds, and Brandon Murray with 4 points and 8 rebounds.
The teams traded 6-0 runs to start the game in a first four minutes that did not see a single foul, hardly a sign of things to come. A Tyrese Samuel alley-oop finish behind the backline of the Hoyas 2-3 zone would cap an 8-0 run and give the Pirates a 25-16 lead before exiting the half up 27-20, holding Georgetown to its lowest point total of any half this season.
The 2nd half would see Richmond step into a 3-pointer on the Pirates’ first possession to extend the lead to double-digits for the first time at 30-20. The Hall would extend the lead to 10 three more times before extending it to 15 on the strength of a 7-0 run and two free throws from Dawes.
Hot shooting from Georgetown after an ice-cold start would propel the Hoyas back into contention late. After missing their first 12 3-point attempts, Georgetown would shoot 6 of 13 from beyond the arc to finish and make all 12 of second half free throws.
Ultimately, the Pirates would secure the victory by getting to the line and finishing and by cleaning up their turnovers, giving the ball away only 4 times in the second half while turning 16 Georgetown turnovers into 17 points compared to just 4 points from the Hoyas.
The victory keeps Seton Hall’s outside shot for an NCAA Tournament bid with three of its four remaining matchups against top 25 opponents in Xavier, at Providence and at UConn.
The Pirates return to action on Saturday for a noon tipoff against UConn at Gampel Pavilion.
