Mamukelashvili Dominates in The Hall's Win Over St. John's

Friday, December 11

Newark, N.J.

4:30 p.m.

Seton Hall University

4-3,1-0Big East

St. John's

5-2,0-1Big East

St. John's (NY)

Seton Hall

Mamukelashvili Dominates in The Hall's Win Over St. John's

12/11/2020 8:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

NEWARK, N.J. - Senior Sandro Mamukelashvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) put on an offensive clinic, going for a career-high 32 points, while he and his teammates suppressed the St. John's pressure as the Pirates won their BIG EAST opener, 77-68, Friday at Prudential Center.

Mamukelashvili was 12-for-18 from the field, 3-for-5 from three and 5-for-8 at the free throw line as the Red Storm had no answer for him.

Seton Hall did a great job handling the Red Storm pressure with very few live ball turnovers. St. John's had only eight steals in the game after coming in averaging 12.3.

Seton Hall (4-3, 1-0 BIG EAST) has now won nine of its last 11 meetings against St. John's and is also now 9-2 in BIG EAST openers under head coach Kevin Willard.

Turning Point
Seton Hall never trailed in the game, but St. John's was within arm's reach in the first half. The game was tied 26-26 when senior Myles Cale (Middletown, Del.) buried a three-pointer to give the Pirates the lead. Senior Shavar Reynolds, Jr. (Manchester, N.J.) then stole the ball and fed Mamukelashvili for a three and a six-point lead. The Red Storm's Greg Williams made a three of his own on the ensuing possession, but Mamukelashvili answered right back with a triple from Cale to make it a six-point game; The Pirates ultimately went into halftime up, 35-30.

The Pirates came out hot to start the second half with a quick 6-0 run on baskets by Mamukelashvili, junior Ike Obiagu (Abuja, Nigeria) and Cale to make it an 11-point lead and force a St. John's timeout.

Mid second half, St. John's cut The Hall's lead to four and then three, but Mamukelashvili answered each time; his layup at 8:52 gave the Pirates a five-point edge and gave him 31 points.

The Johnnies began taking Mamukelashvili away and chipping at the deficit, but it was junior Takal Molson (Buffalo, N.Y.) who made a major impact at the end, hitting a big layup with 2:42 to play to grow the lead to five again. He scored nine of Seton Hall's 11 points between 5:10 and 0:50. He went 9-for-12 from the free throw line for the game and was part of Seton Hall's 18-for-25 from the line in the second half.

Here's all of the 🎥 you need from our first BIG EAST win of the season!#HALLin 🔵⚪ pic.twitter.com/mYQXzz7ApF
— Seton Hall Men's Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) December 12, 2020

Inside the Numbers

Seton Hall shot 47 percent for the game (26-for-55), 29 percent from three (5-for-17) and 71 percent at the free throw line (20-for-28). St. John's shot 44 percent for the game, only 19 percent from three (4-for-21) and 60 percent at the line (6-for-10).
The Pirates out-rebounded the Johnnies, 41-32, though paint points were even, 38-38.
Mamukelashvili led all scorers with a career-high 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field. He also had nine rebounds and three assists and spent a significant portion of the game bringing the ball up to break St. John's pressure.
Mamukelashvili now has a pair of 30-point performances this season. He scored 30 at Penn State on Dec. 6.
Molson scored a Seton Hall-high 14 points and went 9-for-12 at the free throw line.
Cale finished with 10 points.
St. John's was led by Julian Champagnie's 24 points on 10-of-19 shooting.

News & Notes

Seton Hall is now 9-2 vs. St. John's in the last 11 meetings, 10-1 against St. John's in the last 11 home games at Prudential Center and 15-1 against the Johnnies at home since 2000.
This was the 69th BIG EAST regular season meeting between the two teams, and Seton Hall now leads the series 35-34.
St. John's still leads the overall series, 60-44.
The Pirates are now 9-2 in BIG EAST openers and BIG EAST home openers under head coach Kevin Willard.
Willard is now 12-6 all-time against St. John's.
The Pirates are now 104-13 (.889) since the start of the 2015-16 season when it holds a lead of seven points or more at any juncture of the game.
Mamukelashvili moved into 74th on the Seton Hall all-time scoring list and now has 770 career points.

Up Next
Seton Hall will have some time to rest before it takes on Marquette next Thursday, Dec. 17, in Milwaukee, Wis. The game will tip off at 9 p.m., Eastern, and FS1 will have the national telecast. The dynamic duo of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the radio call on AM970, simulcast on XM 381, the Pirate Sports Network and TuneIn.