Seton Hall University
Rutgers
Pirates Reclaim New Jersey Supremacy, 72-66
12/15/2018 4:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Powell was dominant, draining six three-pointers, and making all six of his free-throws. He also had a team-high three steals. For his efforts, Powell was named Joe Calabrese Most Valuable Player, given to the top player in the annual Seton Hall-Rutgers matchup. Sophomore Sandro Mamukelashvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) also had a strong game with 15 points and a team-best nine rebounds. Mamukelashvili drained a career-high three three-pointers in only four attempts.
Seton Hall (7-3), which has dominated New Jersey teams throughout its history, has now won 40 of 70 matchups against Rutgers (5-5).
Our STATE. Our TROPHY.#HALLin #GSHClassic pic.twitter.com/ylpfuAjYj7
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) December 15, 2018
Turning Point:
After Rutgers cut the Pirates' lead to seven points early in the second half, The Hall responded with a 10-0 run, with the last five points coming off the hands of Powell, to extend its lead to 44-27 with 17:00 left in regulation. In a game of runs, the Scarlet Knights struck back for 10 unanswered points to cut The Hall's lead to 46-39 with 14:13 left to play.
From there, the game remained close. With The Hall clinging to a 61-58 lead, Powell drained his sixth three-pointer of the game to put the Pirates up, 64-58 with 2:53 left. Rutgers never got closer.
Rutgers scored the first two points of the game, but the Pirates then kept them off the scoreboard for the next 4:25 to build a 7-2 lead. The Hall however, then went scoreless for 4:46, and an 8-0 Scarlet Knights run put them on top, 10-7 with 11:46 left in the opening half. Trailing 14-13, the Pirates went on an 8-0 spurt themselves, fueled by back-to-back made three-pointers from Powell, to take a 21-14 advantage with 6:47 left before the break.
A three-pointer by Mamukelashvili gave The Hall its largest lead of the half, 34-23, with just 55 seconds left in the first half. A late score by Rutgers sent the Pirates into halftime up, 34-35. The Hall's stout defense held the Scarlet Knights to just 25.0% (10-for-40) shooting from the floor in the first half.
(Myles Powell was named the Joe Calabrese MVP. Powell (middle) with head coach Kevin Willard (far right) and the Calabrese family.)
Inside the Numbers:
- Seton Hall was 20-for-49 (40.8%) from the floor, compared to Rutgers, which was 25-for-79 (31.6%). The Hall was also clutch from downtown, connecting on 11-of-27 (40.7%) three-pointers, while the Scarlet Knights were 6-for-29 (20.7%).
- Both teams committed 11 turnovers, though Rutgers scored 18 points off turnovers compared to Seton Hall only scoring nine off giveaways.
- The paint was an interesting place today. Rutgers out-scored the Pirates there. 28-14, and outrebounded them, 52-38. But The Hall blocked eight shots on the afternoon.
- Powell finished with a game-high 28 points on the strength of six made three-pointers. He was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and had a team-high three steals.
- Mamukelashvili had 15 points, and was 3-for-4 from three-point range. He also had a team-best nine rebounds, including four offensive boards. He has reached double-figures in scoring in three of his last four games.
- Senior Michael Nzei (Makurdi, Nigeria) and Myles Cale (Middletown, Del.) had similar stat lines. Nzei finished with seven points and eight rebounds, while Cale had eight points and eight rebounds.
- Romaro Gill (St. Thomas, Jamaica) blocked a career-high five shots in only 12 minutes.
- The teams had similar efficiency from the charity stripe with Seton Hall shooting 21-for-32 (65.6%) from the free-throw line, while Rutgers was 10-for-15 (66.7%).
LET THEM KNOW WHO RUN JERSEY!!!!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/DIlzO4SQpv
— Angel Delgado (@AngelDelgado) December 15, 2018
News & Notes:
- The Pirates are now 40-30 all-time against the Scarlet Knights and improve to 4-1 against them in the Garden State Hardwood Classic.
- The Hall improves to 68-10 all-time in non-conference games at the Prudential Center, including 31 of the last 33 non-conference games.
- Seton Hall's win improves them to 165-61 (.730) all-time against teams from the State of New Jersey.
- The Pirates haven't lost this season when they have a halftime lead or score more than 65 points in a game.
- Seton Hall is now 70-8 (.897) in its last 78 games (dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season) when holding a lead of seven or more at any point in the contest.
- With two points today, junior Quincy McKnight (Bridgeport, Conn.) surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career, spanning his time as a Pirate and his first two years at Sacred Heart University. He now has 1,001 career points.
- It is the eighth time in 10 games this season that Powell has led Seton Hall in scoring. It's also the sixth time this season that he has topped 20 points in a game, and the 14th time of his career.
- With 28 points today, Powell became the 37th player in Seton Hall history to surpass 1,100 points for his career.
Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 19 when it hosts Sacred Heart at the Prudential Center. Tip time is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The contest will be televised on FS2 and the Fox Sports GO app, and the eloquent duo of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the call on AM970 The Answer, simulcast on XM 380 and the Pirate Sports Network.
Tickets to Wednesday's game are available through Ticketmaster at SHUPirates.com/SHUvsSHU.
