By Colin Rajala
Seton Hall entered its Saturday afternoon matchup against Creighton at the sold-out CHI Health Center without its two leading scorers on the season – Isaiah Coleman (15.8 ppg) and Chaunce Jenkins (11.4 ppg) – but you would not have noticed it in the first half as the Pirates led the majority of the opening twenty minutes, 13:53, behind a balanced effort that saw five different players score at least five points.
The second half was a different story for the depleted visiting squad’s resilient upset bid as Creighton’s two graduate stars – center Ryan Kalkbrenner and guard Steven Ashworth - proved to be too much to handle as they combined to score 51% of the Bluejays’ points in the 79-54 win, including 71% of the team’s first half points.
Kalkbrenner finished with a game-high 23 points on 9/10 shooting from the field to go along with nine rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals, while Ashworth tallied 17 points, shooting 5/8 from long distance, and nine assists as sophomore forward Issac Traudt was the only other Bluejay in double figures with 10 points off the bench.
Seton Hall was led by forward Prince Aligbe’s 12 points and guard Garwey Dual’s 10 point, five assist, four rebound performance, while center Emmanuel Okorafor tallied eight points and four rebounds and wing Scottie Middleton recorded seven points, three rebounds, one block and one steal.
The Pirates opened the game allowing Kalkbrenner to assert himself with early paint touches, luckily only to the tune of three points on two possessions, before Dual connected on back-to-back jump shots from the foul line for the early 4-3 advantage.
Creighton started the game 0/6 from three-point range and Seton Hall capitalized with a 7-0 run that included midrange and three point jump shots from Middleton followed by another Dual midrange shot for the 11-5 edge less than five minutes in.
After Creighton knotted the score at 13-13 on a three from Ashworth, freshman guard Jahseem Felton regained the lead with a three of his own off the assist from guard Dylan Addae-Wusu, who returned to action, playing 15 minutes, after sitting out the last three contests with a foot injury.
The Pirates took their largest lead of the game 28-20 on another midrange jumper from Middleton, this time off the dish from Dual before Kalkbrenner and Ashworth combined for their own 8-0 run over a one minute and thirty second span to tie the score with 3:34 to go in the half.
After a dunk from Okorafor tied the game again, Ashworth connected with Kalkbrenner for an alley oop layup before the seven-foot-one-center found Traudt for a layup for the 32-30 lead, which they would build up to a 38-34 halftime lead.
The two teams committed five turnovers each in the first half, but Creighton’s ability to do more with the miscues proved to be a big difference in the first half as they held the advantage in points off turnovers, 12-7, and fast break points, 6-0.
Creighton started the second half with a 9-0 run capped by a Kalkbrenner slam for the 47-34 lead to keep Seton Hall at arm’s distance the rest of the way, growing its lead to the largest of the game at 76-50 with under five minutes remaining.
Seton Hall entered its Saturday afternoon matchup against Creighton at the sold-out CHI Health Center without its two leading scorers on the season – Isaiah Coleman (15.8 ppg) and Chaunce Jenkins (11.4 ppg) – but you would not have noticed it in the first half as the Pirates led the majority of the opening twenty minutes, 13:53, behind a balanced effort that saw five different players score at least five points.
The second half was a different story for the depleted visiting squad’s resilient upset bid as Creighton’s two graduate stars – center Ryan Kalkbrenner and guard Steven Ashworth - proved to be too much to handle as they combined to score 51% of the Bluejays’ points in the 79-54 win, including 71% of the team’s first half points.
Kalkbrenner finished with a game-high 23 points on 9/10 shooting from the field to go along with nine rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals, while Ashworth tallied 17 points, shooting 5/8 from long distance, and nine assists as sophomore forward Issac Traudt was the only other Bluejay in double figures with 10 points off the bench.
Seton Hall was led by forward Prince Aligbe’s 12 points and guard Garwey Dual’s 10 point, five assist, four rebound performance, while center Emmanuel Okorafor tallied eight points and four rebounds and wing Scottie Middleton recorded seven points, three rebounds, one block and one steal.
The Pirates opened the game allowing Kalkbrenner to assert himself with early paint touches, luckily only to the tune of three points on two possessions, before Dual connected on back-to-back jump shots from the foul line for the early 4-3 advantage.
Creighton started the game 0/6 from three-point range and Seton Hall capitalized with a 7-0 run that included midrange and three point jump shots from Middleton followed by another Dual midrange shot for the 11-5 edge less than five minutes in.
After Creighton knotted the score at 13-13 on a three from Ashworth, freshman guard Jahseem Felton regained the lead with a three of his own off the assist from guard Dylan Addae-Wusu, who returned to action, playing 15 minutes, after sitting out the last three contests with a foot injury.
The Pirates took their largest lead of the game 28-20 on another midrange jumper from Middleton, this time off the dish from Dual before Kalkbrenner and Ashworth combined for their own 8-0 run over a one minute and thirty second span to tie the score with 3:34 to go in the half.
After a dunk from Okorafor tied the game again, Ashworth connected with Kalkbrenner for an alley oop layup before the seven-foot-one-center found Traudt for a layup for the 32-30 lead, which they would build up to a 38-34 halftime lead.
The two teams committed five turnovers each in the first half, but Creighton’s ability to do more with the miscues proved to be a big difference in the first half as they held the advantage in points off turnovers, 12-7, and fast break points, 6-0.
Creighton started the second half with a 9-0 run capped by a Kalkbrenner slam for the 47-34 lead to keep Seton Hall at arm’s distance the rest of the way, growing its lead to the largest of the game at 76-50 with under five minutes remaining.
