Seton Hall University
Creighton
Players Mentioned
Delgado's put-back lifts Pirates to win over Creighton
2/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TICKETS TO MARCH 4 VS. PROVIDENCE (SENIOR NIGHT)
Newark, N.J. - Freshman Angel Delgado (Bajos De Haina, Dominican Republic) scored all 13 of his points in the second half, including a put-back layup with 15.9 seconds remaining in the game to complete a comeback as the Seton Hall men's basketball defeated Creighton, 67-66, Saturday at Prudential Center. Delgado, who also had a critical block in the waning seconds, finished the game with 13 points and 11 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season.
The win was the first for Seton Hall (16-12, 6-10 BIG EAST) this season when trailing its opponent by 10 points or more. The Pirates were down by as many as 14 and were down five with 4:23 remaining in the game.
At that point, freshman Khadeen Carrington (Brooklyn, N.Y.) stepped in to make some clutch plays. After senior Brandon Mobley (Savannah, Ga.) blocked Creighton's James Milliken on the defensive and, and Carrington came down and made a layup in traffic to pull the Pirates within three, 64-61. After a Creighton missed jumper, Carrington again had the ball and pulled up near the foul line to swish a jumper and get it to a one-point game, 64-63, with 2:16 to go.
Freshman Isaiah Whitehead (Brooklyn, N.Y.) came up with a big steal underneath the basket, leading to Carrington drawing a foul while driving to the basket. The two free throws were good, and the Pirates took their first lead of the game, 65-64, with 1:21 to go.
Creighton answered as Austin Chatman, who finished the game with 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting, buried a jumper just inside the three-point line to put the Bluejays back up 66-65.
But the Pirates weren't done, getting one more chance. Whitehead drove to the basket and put up a shot that missed, but Delgado, who leads the BIG EAST in offensive rebounding, came up with another one, putting the miss into the net with 15.9 seconds to go and making it a 67-66 game. Creighton had two looks at a game-winner, but the shots didn't fall as the Pirates celebrated a victory.
Delgado was 6-for-13 from the field and his 11 rebounds marked the 14th time this season he reached double-digit boards, including nine during BIG EAST play. He leads the conference in rebounding (9.9/game) as he continues his push for the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year award. Senior Haralds Karlis (Riga, Latvia) had a team-high 14 points, shooting 4-for-6 from the field and 3-for-5 from three-point range. The 14 points matched his career high. Carrington finished with 13 points, Mobley had nine and Whitehead and fellow freshman Desi Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y.) scored eight. Whitehead also had a career-high seven assists, including six in the second half.
The Pirates had endured a slow start, falling behind Creighton 23-9 after the Bluejays made nine of their first 15 shots in the game. But the Pirates fought back behind Karlis making plays on offense. He drew contact in the lane to earn two shots at the free throw line, which he converted. He then buried a three-pointer to pull the Pirates within five, 23-18. After freshman Rashed Anthony (Orangeburg, S.C.) corralled an offensive rebound, Karlis got the ball back, faked out a defender and found Rodriguez, who made the reverse layup underneath to again make it a five-point game, 25-20.
But Creighton found the net a few more times before the end of the half, including Chatman making a three-pointer with 49 seconds left to go into the break leading 34-24. The double-digit deficit may have previously been tough to overcome, but Seton Hall bounced back to get within one, 48-47, on a Whitehead jumper and then tie the game at 55-55 on a Carrington three-pointer, setting the stage for the game's final four minutes.
Seton Hall shot 46.6 percent for the day, including 5-for-11 from three-point range. The Pirates out-rebounded Creighton 41-31 and used 13 offensive rebounds to score 18 second chance points, none bigger than Delgado's game-winning put-back.
The Pirates will begin the final week of the regular season with a Wednesday night home game against Providence at Prudential Center at 7 p.m. It will be Senior Night, and Seton Hall will honor its three graduating seniors, Mobley, Karlis and Stephane Manga (Orleans, France). The game will be televised on FOX Sports 1, and Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin have the call on AM 970, which will also be simulcast on Sirius 134 and XM 201. For tickets to the game, click here.
