Pirates Edged by Xavier as Huge Rally Falls Short

Wednesday, February 20

Newark, N.J.

7 p.m.

Seton Hall University

Xavier

Seton Hall

2/20/2019 9:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NEWARK, N.J. – Down 16 points to Xavier with 6:23 left to play, the Seton Hall men's basketball team went on a furious 17-2 run and had a chance to win on the final possession, but the last-second shot to win missed the mark as the Musketeers escaped with a 70-69 win over the Pirates Wednesday night at Prudential Center.

Sophomore Myles Cale (Middletown, Del.) led the Pirates in scoring for a second straight game with 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the floor. He also pulled down five rebounds.

Junior Myles Powell (Trenton, N.J.) and sophomore Sandro Mamukelashvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) also reached double-figures in scoring. Powell netted 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds and collected a team-best four steals. Mamukelashvili finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Seton Hall's three-game winning streak came to an end, and the Pirates fell to 7-7 in the competitive BIG EAST.

Turning Point:
Trailing 49-41, The Hall scored six unanswered points, and a lay-in by Mamukelashvili cut its deficit to only two points, 49-47, with 13:42 left to play. After the teams traded buckets, Xavier boosted its lead back up to nine points with an 8-0 run at the halfway mark of the second half.

Naji Marshall scored eight straight points, and his second made three-pointer in three Musketeer possessions gave Xavier its largest lead of the night, 68-52, with only 6:23 left to play. The Pirates however, didn't go away. They responded with a 17-2 run in the waning minutes, and a pair of free-throws by Shavar Reynolds (Manchester, N.J.) cut their deficit to just one point, 70-69, with only 52 seconds remaining.

After Seton Hall fouled to send Xavier to the line with 20.5 seconds left, Tyrique Jones missed the front end of the one-and-one, and Cale grabbed the rebound. Following a Pirates timeout, The Hall got the ball in Powell's hands, but he was unable to get open and he dished off to Reynolds, whose game-winning attempt was long.

Xavier jumped out to an early 8-2 lead to begin the game, but the Pirates responded with an 8-2 run of their own, and a driving layup by Powell tied the score at 10. With the game tied at 18, the Musketeers went on an 11-4 boost to put them up 29-22 with 8:06 to go before the break.

Seton Hall roared back with a 10-2 run, highlighted by a four-point play by Powell, and punctuated by a breakaway dunk from Taurean Thompson (New York, N.Y.) off a fancy behind-the-back bounce pass from Jared Rhoden (Baldwin, N.Y.), to put the Pirates back on top, 32-31 with 5:15 before halftime.

The Musketeers however, scored 13 of the final 15 points of the half to send them into the locker room with a 46-38 advantage.

Inside the Numbers:

Seton Hall was 27-for-65 (41.5) from the floor for the game, and just 6-for-26 (23.1%) from three-point range. Xavier shot 27-for-57 (47.4%) overall, and was 7-for-19 (36.8%) from behind the three-point arc.
Xavier out-rebounded The Hall, 41-to-35. Seton Hall had a slight edge in offensive boards, 13-to-12, but the Musketeers had more second-chance points, 13-to-9.
The Pirates were 9-for-14 (64.0%) from the free-throw line for the game, while Xavier was 9-for-16 (56.0%).
Seton Hall forced 17 Xavier turnovers, while committing only nine. The Pirates had 16 points off those turnovers, compared to just eight for the Musketeers.
Cale finished with 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting. He also had five rebounds and two assists.
Powell had 17 points, eight rebounds and a team-high four steals.
Mamukelashvili had 10 points to go with eight rebounds.
Junior Quincy McKnight (Bridgeport, Conn.) had nine points, three rebounds and a team-best four assists.

News and Notes:

The loss drops Seton Hall to 16-10 overall and 7-7 in BIG EAST play, while Xavier improves to 14-13 overall and 6-8 in conference games.
Seton Hall drops to 11-9 all-time against the Musketeers, and splits the 2018-19 season series with each team winning on the road.
With 17 points tonight, Powell surpassed Pirates Hall of Famer Glenn Mosley into 23^rd place on Seton Hall's career scoring list.
With 21 points tonight, Cale surpassed the 400-point milestone for his career. He has averaged 19.3 points over Seton Hall's last three games.
Powell went 3-for-5 from the free-throw line tonight, snapping a streak of 32 made consecutively.

Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 23, when it makes the short trip to Madison Square Garden for a contest against St. John's. Tip time is scheduled for 8 p.m. The contest will be televised on FS1 and the Fox Sports app, while Dave Popkin and John Fanta will have the call on WMCA 570 AM, XM 380 and the Pirate Sports Network.