Seton Hall University
17-12
Marquette
23-7
Pirates Stun Marquette with Game-Winning 18-0 Run
3/6/2019 8:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The junior from Trenton, N.J., scored a game-high 34 points, including 10 during the Seton Hall men's basketball team's game-ending 18-0 run, to vanquish a nine-point deficit and defeat No. 16 Marquette, 73-64, on Wednesday.
Powell, who posted his seventh 30-point game of the season, was brilliant down the stretch, hitting both the game-tying and game-winning three-pointers. He connected on four three-pointers for the game and went 8-for-9 from the free-throw line.
As brilliant as Powell was offensively, so was junior Quincy McKnight (Bridgeport, Conn.) defensively. The point guard locked down the BIG EAST leading scorer, Markus Howard, limiting him to just six points on 2-of-11 shooting. Howard entered the game averaging 25.5 points per game.
The victory is Seton Hall's fifth quadrant one win of the season, and its 11th total win in quadrants 1&2. Going into today, there were only 20 teams in the country who have at least five quadrant one wins and only 29 teams who have at least 10 Quad 1+2 wins.
Seton Hall's top four wins this season are a neutral site game against Kentucky (NET 5), road wins at Maryland (NET 28) and Creighton (NET 48) and home victories over St. John's (NET 61) and now Marquette (NET 26).
NCAA Tournament teams close games on 18-0 runs to beat ranked teams at home. #HALLin pic.twitter.com/6uIN9sOqyv
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) March 7, 2019
"The story of our season is we never gave up."
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) March 7, 2019
Check out postgame quotes from @Myles_MBP_23 & @_AyooQ as well as highlights as we take down No. 16 Marquette! #HALLin pic.twitter.com/hf04rV8uOG
Turning Point:
Down 59-46 with under 10 minutes to go in the second half, The Hall turned a corner with a 9-0 run, and a jumper by sophomore Shavar Reynolds (Manchester, N.J.) cut Marquette's lead to only four points, 59-55, with 6:55 remaining. After the Golden Eagles ran their lead back up to nine, 64-55, Powell took over.
McKnight got Seton Hall's 18-0 run started with a driving layup, and then the next 10 points came from Powell, whose three-pointer at 2:55 tied the game and then his bomb triple with 2:28 left to play gave The Hall a 67-64 lead and riled out the Prudential Center faithful. From there, the Pirates defense did the rest, as they held Marquette scoreless for the final 4:40 that included the Golden Eagles going 0-for-10 from the field. The Pirates were 6-for-6 from the free-throw line to seal the victory.
Check out some quick highlights from a HUGE win over #16 Marquette at The Rock!#HALLin pic.twitter.com/OqEG500M35
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) March 7, 2019
Inside the Numbers:
- Seton Hall was 26-for-60 (43.3%) from the field and 4-for-20 (20.0%) from three point range. Marquette was 24-for-62 (38.7%) overall and 9-for-30 (30.0%) from downtown.
- The Golden Eagles out-rebounded Seton Hall, 44-to-35, for the game, but the Pirates out-rebounded them in the second half, 22-to-17.
- The Pirates were 17-for-23 (73.9%) from the free-throw line, while Marquette was 7-for-10 (70.0%).
- Seton Hall forced more turnovers, 18-to-10, with the Pirates getting 25 points off turnovers, compared to 13 for Marquette.
- The Hall out-scored Marquette on the fast-break, 16-to-5, and they dominated the Golden Eagles in the paint, 42-to-20.
- Powell finished with a game-high 34 points on 11-for-25 shooting, including 4-for-11 from three-point range. He made eight of nine free-throw attempts, grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists. It was his seventh 30-point game of the season, his fifth in a conference game.
- Senior Michael Nzei (Makurdi, Nigeria) finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
- Sophomore Myles Cale (Middletown, Del.) had nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.
- McKnight had five points and team-highs of six assists and three steals. He also limited the BIG EAST's leading scorer, Markus Howard, to just six points. Howard had come into the game averaging 25.5.
"We fought as brothers and we got the job done." @Myles_MBP_23 breaks down the big @SetonHallMBB win over Marquette with @TheAndyKatz. pic.twitter.com/TEOAcTdlt5
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 7, 2019
News & Notes:
- The victory improves Seton Hall to 17-12 overall and 8-9 in BIG EAST play, while Marquette falls to 23-7 overall and 12-5 in conference games.
- The Pirates earned their fifth quadrant one win of the season as well as their 11th Quad 1+2 victory.
- Seton Hall improves to 8-19 all-time against the Golden Eagles as the two programs split the 2018-19 season series.
- Seton Hall is now 79-11 (.878) in its last 90 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's win is the 85th during Nzei's tenure at Seton Hall, which ranks fifth-most in program history. He now has surpassed his former teammates Khadeen Carrington, Angel Delgado, Desi Rodriguez and Ismael Sanogo, who all had 84 wins in their Pirates tenure.
- With the win tonight, Seton Hall is 2-2 this season and 12-15 since the 2016 season against ranked teams. It was the team's first home win over a ranked team since Dec. 28, 2017 vs. No. 25 Creighton. It's also the program's third-ever win over the Associated Press No. 16 in the country.
- Tonight Powell topped the 20-point mark in a game for the 18th time this season and the 26th time of his career.
- With 34 points tonight, Powell surpassed former Pirates Arturas Karnisovas (1990-94) and Dick Gaines (1954-57) to move into 19th place on Seton Hall's career list.
- Powell's first three-pointer of the evening broke a tie between he and Pirate legend Andre Barrett for fourth all-time at Seton Hall in career made three-pointers. He now has (244). Only Jeremy Hazell (328), Terry Dehere (315) and Darius Lane (273) have made more at The Hall.
- With six rebounds tonight, Nzei surpassed the 500 career rebounds milestone.
Seton Hall will return to action on Saturday, March 9 when it wraps up the 2018-19 regular season with a game against defending national champion No. 23 Villanova. Tip time is scheduled for Noon ET. It will be Senior Day and the Pirates will honor Michael Nzei before the game. Fans are asked to be in their seats by 11:45 a.m. The contest will be televised on FOX and the Fox Sports Go app with Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson on the call, while the tandem of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the call on WMCA 570 AM, simulcast on Sirius 99, XM 207 and the Pirate Sports Network.
Tickets to Saturday's game are still available, albeit only in the upper deck, at SHUPirates.com/SHUvsNova.
