Defense Leads Pirates Past Creighton, 63-58

Saturday, February 9

Newark, N.J.

8 p.m.

Seton Hall University

Creighton

Seton Hall

2/9/2019 10:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score BOX (PDF)

NEWARK, N.J. – Senior Myles Powell (Trenton, N.J.) scored a team-high 22 points, including his team's last nine, as the Seton Hall men's basketball team defeated Creighton, 63-58, in a defensive battle at the Prudential Center on Saturday.

The Pirates defense ultimately won out as they kept Creighton without a field goal over the final 4:35 of the contest. For the game, The Hall held the Bluejays to just 30.3 percent (20-for-66) shooting from the floor, a season-low for a Seton Hall opponent.

Powell scored 22 points, including a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line, and grabbed seven rebounds.

Junior Quincy McKnight (Bridgeport, Conn.) was the lone other Pirate to reach double-figures in scoring. He finished with 14 points to go with three assists, despite picking up his fourth foul with 16:23 still to play.

In the wild and crazy 2019 version of the BIG EAST, the Pirates now find themselves in a five-way tie for third place at 5-6 alongside Butler, DePaul, Georgetown and St. John's.

We got ourselves a BIG conference win! Check out the highlights from the victory over Creighton! #HALLin pic.twitter.com/1JjmurnWez
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) February 10, 2019

Turning Point:
Trailing 54-48, the Pirates scored four straight, and Powell's floater cut Creighton's lead to 54-52 with just 2:47 to play. After the teams exchanged a pair of free-throws, Powell was fouled while shooting a three, and proceeded to make all three free-throws to give The Hall a 57-56 lead with 1:48 left. Following two more Creighton free-throws, Powell scored in the paint to swing the advantage back to Seton Hall, 59-58, with 1:14 to go. After a strong Seton Hall defensive stand, Powell was fouled with 10.7 seconds left and calmly sank both freebies to extend the lead to three. Two more free-throws by Powell with five seconds left iced the contest.

Seton Hall kept up its defensive pressure to begin the second half. The Pirates unleashed a 10-0 run out of the break, and Michael Nzei's (Makurdi Nigeria) second-chance put-back with 15:31 left to play gave The Hall a commanding 41-29 lead. Creighton however, bounced back with an 10-0 run of their own, holding The Hall scoreless for 4:29 to cut their deficit to 41-39 with just over 12 minutes left to play.

The run stretched to 22-5 when Creighton's Christian Bishop scored inside to put the Bluejays on top, 51-46, with 7:04 left in regulation.

The Pirates' offense got off to a hot start to begin the game. A three-pointer by Sandro Mamukelashvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) provided the first points of the game and helped launch a 14-5 game-opening burst for The Hall. Creighton responded however with a 10-0 run, holding the Pirates scoreless for 5:23 and forcing five turnovers during the span. A jumper by Connor Cashaw capped the run and gave The Bluejays a 15-14 with 10:27 left before halftime.

After several minutes of solid defense on both ends of the floor, Powell completed a four-point play, getting fouled on a successful double-clutched three-point attempt. Powell's effort gave The Hall its largest lead of the half, 23-18, with 5:38 left before the break.

Trailing 28-24, the Bluejays scored five straight points to retake the lead, but a three-pointer by Jared Rhoden (Baldwin, N.Y.) with 1:32 left in the opening stanza provided Seton Hall with a 31-29 halftime advantage.

PIRATES WIN!! We finished the game on an 11-2 run to deliver this clutch victory! #HALLin

This win is presented by @LifeStorage! pic.twitter.com/2M66Yn0rTI
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) February 10, 2019

Inside the Numbers:

Neither team shot particularly well from the field. The Pirates were 20-for-60 (33.3%) from the field, including 7-for-25 (28.-0%) from three-point range. The Bluejays were 20-for-66 (30.3%) from the floor and 8-for-28 (28.6%) from downtown.
Creighton narrowly out-rebounded the Pirates, 47-to-43. The Bluejays had 17 second chance points, compared to Seton Hall's 10.
Seton Hall was 16-for-20 (80.0%) from the free-throw line, while Creighton was 10-for-13 (76.9%).
Points in the paint were event at 22 apiece, while Seton Hall had a slight edge in fast-break points, 8-to-7.
Turnovers were nearly even as well, with Creighton committing one more, 13-to-12.
Powell finished with a team-high 22 points, and was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. He also had seven rebounds and a team-high four steals.
McKnight had 14 points and three-assists, despite picking up his fourth foul with 16:23 left in the game.
Mamukelashvili had six points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Nzei had seven points and eight rebounds.

News & Notes:

The victory improves Seton Hall to 14-9 overall and 5-6 in BIG EAST play, while Creighton falls to 13-11 overall and 4-7 in conference games.
Seton Hall improves to 13-6 all-time against the Bluejays and has now won five of the last seven games in the series. These teams will meet again on Feb. 17 in Omaha, Neb.
Seton Hall is now 76-10 (.884) in its last 86 games (dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season) when holding a lead of seven or more at any point during the contest.
Tonight Powell topped the 20-point mark in a game for the 14^th time this season and the 21^st time of his career.
With 22 points tonight, Powell surpassed Jordan Theodore and tied Darius Lane for 27^th place on Seton Hall's all-time scoring list. He now has 1,377 points in his career.
With seven points tonight, Nzei has surpassed the 600-point milestone for his career.

Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action on Wednesday, February 13 when it hosts Georgetown. Tip time is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. The contest will be televised on FS1 and the Fox Sports Go app, while the tandem of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the call on WMCA 570 AM, simulcast on the Pirate Sports Network.

Wednesday is Seton Hall vs. Cancer Night, and tickets with a portion of sales going to the American Cancer Society are available through FEVO.