Seton Hall University
Sacred Heart
Mamu, Pirates Break Sacred Heart, 90-76
12/19/2018 8:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Mamukelashvili was as efficient as he was impressive, shooting 8-for-11 from the floor, including a career-high four made three-pointers on just five attempts. He also pulled down a team-best eight rebounds as The Hall won for the seventh time in its last eight games.
Junior Myles Powell (Trenton, N.J.), senior Michael Nzei (Makurdi, Nigeria) and sophomore Shavar Reynolds (Manchester, N.J.) also got into double-figures in scoring. Powell finished with 15 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists, while Nzei had 10 points and three rebounds. Reynolds tallied a career-high 10 points and was perfect from the floor going 3-for-3 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Freshman Anthony Nelson (New York, N.Y.) turned in a career-high eight assists.
Mamu led the way with 23 points as the Pirates defeated Sacred Heart 90-76 in the #SHUperbowl! Check out some highlights from the victory. #HALLin pic.twitter.com/d65MDq8IrS
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) December 20, 2018
Turning Point:
This one was never in doubt. Mamukelashvili drained a three-pointer just 21 seconds into the game, and Seton Hall never looked back. Less than two minutes into the game, the Pirates were up 10-2, and a jumper by Reynolds extended The Hall's lead to 18-4 with 13:32 left in the first half.
Nelson's first collegiate three-pointer put Seton Hall up, 32-20, with 6:40 to go before the break, and dunks on back-to-back possessions by Nzei extended the Pirates' advantage to 38-23.
The Hall took a commanding 54-37 lead into halftime. On the strength of 58.3% shooting from the floor, the 54 points are the most the Pirates have scored in a first half since dropping 64 on VMI on Dec. 12, 2009.
With the Pirates leading 57-44 early in the second half, they took off offensively again for a 9-0 spurt to put the game out of reach, 66-44, with 14:13 left to play.
Inside the Numbers:
- Seton Hall was 35-for-73 (47.9%) from the floor for the game and 7-for-22 (31.8%) from three-point range. Sacred Heart had similar numbers, going 28-for-62 (45.2%) from the floor and 8-for-20 (40.0%) from downtown.
- Seton Hall shot 76.5% (13-for-17) from the free-throw line, while Sacred Heart fired at an 80.0% (12-for-15) clip.
- The Pirates issued a season-high 23 assists on their 35 field goals made, and seven different Pirates recorded at least two dimes.
- Both teams finished with 38 rebounds, with Seton Hall edging the Pioneers in offensive boards, 14-to-11.
- Seton Hall committed only 12 turnovers, but forced 21 Sacred Heart turnovers. The Pirates outscored the Pioneers on points-off-turnovers, 24-to-2. It's the second time this season that Seton Hall has forced an opponent into 20+ turnovers.
- Mamukelashvili had a career-high 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the floor and 4-for-5 shooting from three-point range. He also had a team-best eight rebounds as he continues to play strong basketball over the last five games. In that span, he's averaging 13.0 points and 8.4 rebounds.
- Powell finished with 15 points on 7-for-14 shooting. He also had four rebounds, four steals and three assists.
- Nzei had 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting and three rebounds.
- Reynolds had a perfect night, scoring a career-high 10 points on 3-for-3 shooting from the field and 4-for-4 shooting from the free-throw line. He also had a career-high four steals.
- Junior Quincy McKnight (Bridgeport, Conn.) had a solid night against his former team, scoring nine points with four steals.
- Nelson dished out a career-high eight assists to go with five points, while classmate Darnell Brodie (Newark, N.J.) grabbed a career-high three rebounds.
- The victory improves Seton Hall to 8-3 on the season, while Sacred Heart falls to 4-7 overall. The Pirates have won four straight games and seven of their last eight.
- The Hall improves to 69-10 all-time in non-conference games at the Prudential Center, including wins in 32 of the last 34 non-conference games.
- This was the first-ever meeting between "S.H.U.'s"… Seton Hall University and Sacred Heart University.
- The Hall is now 11-1 against members of the NEC under head coach Kevin Willard.
- 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 71-8 (.899) in its last 79 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.
- After starting the season 3-for-16 from three-point range, Mamukelashvili is 7-for-9 in his last two games. He has also scored in double-figures in four of the Pirates' last five games.
- With 15 points tonight, Powell passed former Pirate Richie Dec into 36th place on Seton Hall's all-time scoring list, and he now stands at 1,129 points.
- With 10 points today, Nzei became the 121st player in Seton Hall history to surpass the 500-point milestone.
You know...we were just having fun with this whole S-H-U thing...these fans took things NEXT LEVEL! 🙌😂 @CBBonFOX @SportsCenter @SHU_MensHoops #SHUperBowl pic.twitter.com/9vnpQELSez
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) December 19, 2018
Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 22 when it travels to the University of Maryland. Tip time is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The contest will be televised on FS1 and the Fox Sports Go app, and the tandem of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the call on AM970 The Answer, simulcast on the Pirate Sports Network.
Seton Hall's next home game is the BIG EAST opener against St. John's on Saturday, Dec. 29 at Prudential Center at 8:30 p.m. Tickets to the game are available at SHUPirates.com/SHUvsSTJ.
