by JP Pelzman
NEWARK – Seton Hall trailed by 13 and Marquette’s Sacar Anim had a hand in Myles Powell’s face. But because his team desperately needed his offense, Powell let it fly anyway.
His contested three-point attempt from the right corner caught the rim on the far side, bounced high up, almost at the top of the backboard, hit the front rim on the way down and finally rattled home.
There’s a saying that it’s better to be lucky than good. Yes, Powell was lucky.
But then he was much more than good. He was great.
Seton Hall’s star guard scored 15 of his 34 points in the last 9:17 of the game as the Pirates rallied from 13 points down for an uplifting 73-64 win over No. 16 Marquette that put The Hall (17-12, 8-9 Big East) right back into the NCAA tournament conversation after an unfortunately-timed three-game slide had put their hopes in serious jeopardy.
With this victory, plus monster away-from-The-Rock wins over Kentucky and Maryland already in their pocket, the Pirates will try to bolster their resume even further when they host 23rd-ranked Villanova on Saturday at noon.
But as for Wednesday night’s game, both Powell and coach Kevin Willard pointed to that one piece of good fortune as a momentum-changer for both Powell and the team he has put on his back with 69 points in the past two games.
After that basket, Powell said, “It seemed like everything was falling. … There’s nothing like being at home. I saw it dancing on the rim and I was just like, come on, come on. And it dropped (in) for me and after that, it seemed like everything started to flow.”
Willard said, “When it hit the rim and backboard and went in, I think it kind of relaxed (the team) a little bit, and gave (Powell) the opportunity. I kind of saw it in his eyes that he was going to take over, and he was just phenomenal the last five minutes.”
Perhaps, then, it was not coincidental that Powell’s aforementioned three was his first basket of the second half. From that point on, as Providence coach Ed Cooley said about Powell earlier in the season, “he put on a cape.” Powell’s shot began a 9-0 run that cut Seton Hall’s deficit to 59-55.
As he had done most of the night, Marquette’s Sam Hauser stifled that momentum with a three. But those were his last three points of the game and a subsequent two by teammate Sacar Anim marked the Golden Eagles’ last tallies of the night. Seton Hall’s game-ending 18-0 run was keyed by, of course, Powell, whose personal 10-point scoring spurt in a span of 1:31 turned a 64-57 deficit into a 67-64 lead.
“That’s what my team needed,” Powell said, downplaying his greatness. “I had no choice. I love my guys and we’re going to keep fighting.”
“I told (Powell) after the game, he’s a warrior,” Mike Nzei said. “It was amazing watching him. … What I like most about him (is) he cares about his teammates. He’s not out there doing it for himself.
Jared Rhoden rebounded a Hauser miss and made two foul shots with 38 seconds left for a five-point lead before Nzei iced it with four consecutive free throws.
Hauser (25 points) was forced to be the go-to guy for Marquette (22-7, 12-5) because Quincy McKnight took potential Big East player of the year Markus Howard completely out of his rhythm. Beset with foul trouble, mostly thanks to McKnight, Howard never found the range and finished with six points on 2-for-11 shooting.
“Just playing a guy like him,” McKnight said, “that’s going to hype you up.”
Powell said, smiling, “he plays defense against me every day in practice so it’s good to see him doing it against somebody else just as high-caliber as me. … Quincy came out and did what defensive players of the year do.
“The story of our season is we never gave up,” Powell added. “When we were down 12 (actually 13), we could’ve hung our heads, but we kept fighting. That’s the story about us this season.”
And it’s a tale with some chapters still to be written, if Wednesday night is any indication.
“That’s a big one,” Willard said. “Getting a win like this, it just helps enormously.”
COMMENTS?
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
NEWARK – Seton Hall trailed by 13 and Marquette’s Sacar Anim had a hand in Myles Powell’s face. But because his team desperately needed his offense, Powell let it fly anyway.
His contested three-point attempt from the right corner caught the rim on the far side, bounced high up, almost at the top of the backboard, hit the front rim on the way down and finally rattled home.
There’s a saying that it’s better to be lucky than good. Yes, Powell was lucky.
But then he was much more than good. He was great.
Seton Hall’s star guard scored 15 of his 34 points in the last 9:17 of the game as the Pirates rallied from 13 points down for an uplifting 73-64 win over No. 16 Marquette that put The Hall (17-12, 8-9 Big East) right back into the NCAA tournament conversation after an unfortunately-timed three-game slide had put their hopes in serious jeopardy.
With this victory, plus monster away-from-The-Rock wins over Kentucky and Maryland already in their pocket, the Pirates will try to bolster their resume even further when they host 23rd-ranked Villanova on Saturday at noon.
But as for Wednesday night’s game, both Powell and coach Kevin Willard pointed to that one piece of good fortune as a momentum-changer for both Powell and the team he has put on his back with 69 points in the past two games.
After that basket, Powell said, “It seemed like everything was falling. … There’s nothing like being at home. I saw it dancing on the rim and I was just like, come on, come on. And it dropped (in) for me and after that, it seemed like everything started to flow.”
Willard said, “When it hit the rim and backboard and went in, I think it kind of relaxed (the team) a little bit, and gave (Powell) the opportunity. I kind of saw it in his eyes that he was going to take over, and he was just phenomenal the last five minutes.”
Perhaps, then, it was not coincidental that Powell’s aforementioned three was his first basket of the second half. From that point on, as Providence coach Ed Cooley said about Powell earlier in the season, “he put on a cape.” Powell’s shot began a 9-0 run that cut Seton Hall’s deficit to 59-55.
As he had done most of the night, Marquette’s Sam Hauser stifled that momentum with a three. But those were his last three points of the game and a subsequent two by teammate Sacar Anim marked the Golden Eagles’ last tallies of the night. Seton Hall’s game-ending 18-0 run was keyed by, of course, Powell, whose personal 10-point scoring spurt in a span of 1:31 turned a 64-57 deficit into a 67-64 lead.
“That’s what my team needed,” Powell said, downplaying his greatness. “I had no choice. I love my guys and we’re going to keep fighting.”
“I told (Powell) after the game, he’s a warrior,” Mike Nzei said. “It was amazing watching him. … What I like most about him (is) he cares about his teammates. He’s not out there doing it for himself.
Jared Rhoden rebounded a Hauser miss and made two foul shots with 38 seconds left for a five-point lead before Nzei iced it with four consecutive free throws.
Hauser (25 points) was forced to be the go-to guy for Marquette (22-7, 12-5) because Quincy McKnight took potential Big East player of the year Markus Howard completely out of his rhythm. Beset with foul trouble, mostly thanks to McKnight, Howard never found the range and finished with six points on 2-for-11 shooting.
“Just playing a guy like him,” McKnight said, “that’s going to hype you up.”
Powell said, smiling, “he plays defense against me every day in practice so it’s good to see him doing it against somebody else just as high-caliber as me. … Quincy came out and did what defensive players of the year do.
“The story of our season is we never gave up,” Powell added. “When we were down 12 (actually 13), we could’ve hung our heads, but we kept fighting. That’s the story about us this season.”
And it’s a tale with some chapters still to be written, if Wednesday night is any indication.
“That’s a big one,” Willard said. “Getting a win like this, it just helps enormously.”
COMMENTS?
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
