Pirates Top Georgia to Advance to NIT Championship - Seton Hall University Athletics
Five Pirates scored in double figures, including 20 points from Al-Amir Dawes (Newark, N.J.) , as the Seton Hall men's basketball team defeated Georgia, 8...
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Indianapolis, Ind. — Five Pirates scored in double figures, including 20 points from Al-Amir Dawes (Newark, N.J.), as the Seton Hall men's basketball team defeated Georgia, 84-67, to advance to Thursday's NIT Championship Game.
Dawes connected on four three-pointers to continue his strong stretch of play in the tournament. Dre Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.) had 19 points and nine rebounds in his hometown, Kadary Richmond (Brooklyn, N.Y.) posted 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Jaden Bediako (Brampton, Ontario) finished with 14 points. Jaquan Sanders (Queens, N.Y.) had a strong game off the bench for The Hall, tying his career-high with 11 points and hitting three from behind the arc.
With the win, the Pirates will face Indiana State in the NIT championship game on Thursday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
How It Happened
A steal and score from Richmond on the Pirates' first defensive possession set the tone for the Pirates in the first half. After Georgia quickly tied the score at 2-2, the Pirates used a 15-1 run to take a commanding 18-3 lead and it forced Georgia to use a timeout. The Pirates' defense held Georgia to just one field in the game's first six minutes.
The Bulldogs got within nine, 20-11, at the 10:49 mark before Dawes rattled off six consecutive points that matched Seton Hall's largest lead at 15, 26-11, with 8:28 to go before halftime. Back-to-back threes by Sanders ballooned The Hall's lead to 36-18 and the Pirates' largest advantage came at the 5:06 mark when they went up 40-18.
Georgia came out firing in the second half and it stayed within striking distance. However, Dawes made it a 24-point Seton Hall advantage after connecting on consecutive three-point baskets with 14:41 left to play. The Bulldogs pulled within 11 on following an 11-3 run that made it 73-62 with 5:36 to go when Sanders came up big once again. The sophomore connected on a running floater with just over five minutes left and connected on his third three-point basket of the game that made it 80-64 with 3:59 left, giving Seton Hall some much-needed breathing room.
Inside the Box Score
- Seton Hall's defense held Georgia to just 38 percent shooting from the floor and 19 percent from three-point range.
- The Pirates' offense shot 47 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep.
- Seton Hall finished with 18 assists and committed 11 turnovers.
- The Pirates had a plus-13 advantage on the glass, 45-32, and they had a 13-8 edge on the offensive glass.
- Both sides scored more than 40 points in the paint with the Pirates finishing with a slight 44-40 edge.
- There was only one tie in the ballgame at 2-2 and Seton Hall led the for the remainder of the contest.
- Seton Hall advances to its first NIT final since 1953 and it's the Pirates' second NIT championship game appearance in program history.
- The Pirates' 24 wins is tied for the seventh-most in program history and it's the most since the 2015-16 when The Hall won 25 games.
- The Pirates improve to 21-1 when leading at halftime this season.
- Seton Hall has won seven of its last nine games at Hinkle Fieldhouse including its last four contests.
- Seton Hall improve to 2-1 all-time against Georgia and its won four-consecutive games against SEC opponents.
- The Pirates are now 19-6 this season when Dawes scores in double-figures and 9-3 when he's the team's leading scorer.
- Richmond is up to 182 career steals at Seton Hall, moving him past Jordan Theodore into sole possession of 10th on the program's steals list.
- Richmond moved past Danny Hurley and Jerry Walker into 41st on Seton Hall's all-time scoring list with 1,085 points
- Dawes is up to 1,813 career points and 946 career points as a Pirate.
- 11 of Dawes' 19 career 20-point games have come this season.
- Dawes' 88 made three-pointers ranks ninth-most in a single season in program history.
- Sanders now has two double-figure scoring games this season and four in his career.
