PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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By Colin Rajala
Seton Hall and Xavier both entered their New Year’s Eve matchup at the Cintas Center on losing streaks – four straight for the Pirates, including two by one possession, while the Musketeers had dropped three straight to ranked opponents, including two by one possession.
Suffice to say, something had to give Tuesday afternoon, and that something was in favor of Xavier (9-5, 1-2) as they shrugged off a quick start from Seton Hall (5-9, 0-3) on their way to a commanding 94-72 victory that they will be celebrating into 2025.
The Musketeers tied their second highest scoring output of the season against a Seton Hall defense that had allowed just 61 points per game entering the contest with only one team scoring in the 80s and just two teams scoring in the 70s against them.
The visiting Pirates started the conference matchup with a quick 5-0 advantage on a jumper from sophomore guard Isaiah Coleman and a wing three from freshman guard Jahseem Felton that was assisted by Coleman, before the Musketeers offense would shift into gear.
Xavier, led by eight early points from Ryan Conwell, peeled off a 16-0 run that was capped by a three from Marcus Foster to take a 16-5 lead and prompt a timeout from Seton Hall Head Coach Shaheen Holloway with 13 minutes left in the opening half.
The Hall responded out of the timeout with back-to-back threes from graduate guard Chaunce Jenkins and sophomore forward Scotty Middleton to close the gap to 17-11, unfortunately they would not get any closer the rest of the game.
Xavier had six players in double figures as Conwell led all scorers with 22 points to go along with three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Foster and Dante Maddox Jr. scored 14 apiece, while Dailyn Swain tallied 13, Jerome Hunter recorded 12 and John Hugley IV recorded 11, including eight straight in the second half.
Coleman paced Seton Hall with 19 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in 33 hard played minutes.
Middleton and Jenkins scored 12 points and 11 points, respectively, off the bench, while Felton tallied nine points in the first start of his college career and graduate guard Dylan Addae-Wusu put up nine points and three assists in the losing effort.
Xavier took its largest lead of the first half, 32-17, with less than eight minutes to go and ended the first half up 44-31 as they shot 6-13 from long distance (46.2%), led fast break points 8-2 and had a 9-2 edge in turnovers forced for a 9-4 advantage in points off turnovers.
Conwell and Hunter combined for 28 of Xavier’s 44 first half points, nearly outscoring Seton Hall by themselves, with Conwell’s 18 besting his season average of 16.2 points.
Looking to change things up in the second half, Holloway inserted Jenkins and Middleton into the starting lineup and they responded immediately as Jenkins found Middleton for three to close the gap to 44-34.
Unfortunately, Seton Hall dug a deeper hole for itself, committing a flagrant foul that resulted in two made free throws, allowing a putback on an offensive rebound and missing an easy layup before allowing one on the other end, which prompted another timeout from Holloway as the Musketeers extended their lead to its largest of the game at that point, 50-34
Xavier took its largest lead of the game with just over six minutes remaining, 83-55, after forcing a steal and getting the ball out to Maddox Jr. for the transition slam.
