PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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By: Colin Rajala
If you did not know it was only January 20, you would have sworn it was March in the Prudential Center Saturday afternoon.
Creighton entered as the 18th ranked team in the country as Seton Hall came into the matchup one of the hottest teams in the country, winners of five straight and eight of their last nine.
Both teams proceeded to trade knockout blows in a classic battle of Big East heavy weights with the Bluejays (14-5, 5-3) outlasting the Pirates (13-6, 6-2) 97-94 in triple overtime that proved to be a war of attrition.
Seton Hall held a two-point lead with 12 seconds left in regulation and had the pressure firmly on Creighton’s shoulders after forcing back-to-back timeouts on side-out inbounds, the Bluejays ultimately got the ball in and Steven Ashworth converted a layup through contact with three seconds remaining to tie the game at 67.
In the second overtime, The Hall trailed by four with 16 seconds remaining when graduate guard Al-Amir Dawes was fouled attempting a three from the wing. He proceeded to calmly knocked down all three freebies to close the score to 83-82.
On the ensuing possession underneath Creighton’s basket, senior guard Kadary Richmond stole the inbounds pass before dishing it off to Dawes for a layup and what appeared to be an 84-82 lead with just 12 seconds remaining, but the referees waived off the made basket, instead signaling a foul on Ashworth to send Richmond to the line – turning the deafening cheers from the home crowd into a cascade of boos and jeers.
Richmond knotted the score at 83 before his second free throw rimmed out, prompting a third overtime.
The Pirates built an 88-83 lead in the third overtime on a three from Dawes off the dish from Richmond. Seton Hall struggled over their next few possessions fouling to give up two free throws, missing two contested shots from the field, going 1/2 from the free throw line and committing a turnover before Trey Alexander hit a jumper to regain Creighton's lead 90-89 with 52 ticks left.
Richmond converted two free throws with 42 seconds left to go back up, 91-90, before Trey Alexander drilled a three off the assist from Ashworth to take a 93-91 lead, which they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
Leading Creighton was Center Ryan Kalkbrenner with 28 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks in 54 minutes, while Alexander scored 23 points to go along with eight rebounds, seven assists three blocks and a steal in 53 minutes.
Pacing Seton Hall was Dre Davis, Dawes, and Richmond, who scored 21 apiece, however on much different efficiency. Davis was 10-12, including 1-2 from long distance, Dawes went 7-20 from the field and 2-5 from three after a scoreless first half, while Richmond was 8-32 from the field and 5/6 from the charity stripe.
Despite the inability for Richmond to covert in or near the lane at will like he has to start conference play, he was still impactful as ever, with 11 rebounds and 11 assists - recording the second ever triple-double in program history after Eddie Griffin’s in 2000.
Graduate center Jaden Bediako put up another strong performance, recording 15 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks, with the Pirates outscoring Creighton 50-36 in the paint.
Seton Hall also outrebounded Creighton 56-45 and converted at a better clip from the foul line 17-21 (81%) to 14/19 (73.7%), but just wasn’t able to get over the hump to close out a scrappy Creighton team coming off a 62-48 loss to UConn.
The Pirates will return to action in the final game of their three-game home stand when they square off with Providence Wednesday evening at the Rock.
