PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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By Colin Rajala
More than 19,000 St. John’s fans made the pilgrimage to the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, Saturday afternoon to coronate the Red Storm on their first Big East regular season title since the 1991-1992 season with the expectation they would clinch their first outright conference title since 1985, but Seton Hall had other plans despite their futile season to date.
Seton Hall (7-22, 2-16), which fell to the Red Storm by 28 points at home earlier this season, landed the first punch and got up off the mat after St. John’s (26-4, 17-2) punched back before pushing the Johnnies close to the brink of their first home loss on the season, but the Pirates offensive woes, particularly its free throw shooting, caught up to them late as they fell 71-61.
The Hall got on the board first when graduate wing and St. John’s transfer Dylan Addae-Wusu stole the ball from Deivon Smith and raced the ball up the court for the easy layup before doubling its lead when freshman center Godswill Erheriene slammed home the feed from sophomore guard Garwey Dual off the pick and roll less than two minutes into the game. A midrange jump shot from junior forward Prince Aligbe gave Seton Hall the 6-0 lead and forced St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino, donning all-white, to burn an early timeout.
The Pirates gave up three offensive rebounds to Zuby Ejiofor in the first three possessions, but St. John’s started 0-8 from the field to allow the visitors to take the early lead, which was extended to 10-2 after sophomore wing Isaiah Coleman connected on a three from the top of the key.
Addae-Wusu led Seton Hall with 18 points, seven assists, four rebounds, four steals and a block, Coleman tallied 15 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Erheriene and Aligbe recorded eight points each.
St. John’s R.J. Luis connected on a three off the dish from Seton Hall transfer Kadary Richmond to knot the score at 12-12 and force a timeout from Seton Hall Head Coach Shaheen Holloway less than eight minutes into the game.
The Red Storm took their first lead of the game, 14-12, after Luis recorded a pick-six steal and slam for nine of the home team’s first 14 points.
Luis led all scorers with 21 points to go along with six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block, Ejiofor finished with a 17 point, 10 rebound double-double, while Richmond stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, nine rebounds, seven assists, three steals and a block.
After St. John’s took and built up their lead as part of an extended 18-6 run in the first half, Seton Hall regained the lead with just over two minutes remaining in the half, 28-27, after Dual recorded a steal and gave it up to Coleman for a breakaway slam as part of a 12-7 run.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, St. John’s closed the half on a 7-2 run to enter the half with the 34-30 edge.
The Pirates held strong for much of the second half, keeping the game within two to three possessions before St. John’s went on an 8-2 run capped by another runout slam from Luis off a Seton Hall turnover for a 59-52 lead with less than seven minutes to go in the game.
Aligbe closed the score to 61-56 with a pump fake in the paint and step through layup with five minutes to go. After the Pirates forced a shot clock violation, Coleman stepped to the free throw line with 4:29 remaining to shoot one-and-one. Coleman missed the front end, his third consecutive miss from the charity stripe in the game, and the rest was history as the Pirate would not get closer than five the remainder of the game.
Seton Hall’s lack of a third scoring threat coupled with shooting 9/21(42.9%) from the free throw line and being outrebounded 41-23, including 14-3 on the offensive glass proved to be the difference in the rivalry matchup.
