Rhoden Scores 22, Pirates Fall to Georgetown in BIG EAST Semis

Friday, March 12

New York, N.Y. (MSG)

6 p.m.

Seton Hall University

14-13,10-9Big East

Georgetown

12-12,7-9Big East

Georgetown

Seton Hall

Rhoden Scores 22, Pirates Fall to Georgetown in BIG EAST Semis

3/12/2021 9:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

NEW YORK - The Seton Hall men's basketball team gave every ounce of effort left in its BIG EAST semifinal matchup with Georgetown, but the eighth-seeded Hoyas escaped with a 66-58 win over the fifth-seeded Pirates Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

Junior Jared Rhoden (Baldwin, N.Y.) led the Pirates with 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting. Seton Hall, coming off an overtime war with St. John's, just didn't have enough in the tank on offense, shooting just 39 percent from the floor.

Despite the loss, the Pirates had advanced to the BIG EAST semifinals for the fifth time in the last seven appearances.

Turning Point
Seton Hall fell behind the Hoyas by 11 points in the first half, but the Pirates kicked things into gear late with a 13-4 run. Rhoden was the catalyst with a driving bucket to get the run going, followed by excellent rebounding on the defensive end, a blistering three-pointer and another smooth layup inside.

Sophomore Tyrese Samuel (Montreal, Quebec) had a dunk off a great pass from senior Shavar Reynolds, Jr. (Manchester, N.J.) to cut the deficit to four, and then Reynolds Jr. came up with a big steal in the midcourt as the ball caromed to senior Sandro Mamukelashvili (Tbilisi, Georgia), who found Rhoden wide open for the fastbreak dunk. The Pirates only trailed by two at the break, 36-34.

The second half was a slog, but the Pirates kept fighting. Rhoden tied the game at 39-39 with another triple, but the Hoyas immediately answered with Jahvon Blair hitting a jumper just inside the foul line. The Pirates tied the game four more times, but the Hoyas seemingly answered each bell.

Seton Hall took the lead with 6:19 to go, 53-52, after Reynolds Jr. had a baseline driving layup and Mamukelashvili made one free throw after a hard foul driving into traffic. But Georgetown got to the line again, made one of two to tie, and then the Pirates came up empty next possession as Jamorko Pickett swished a jumper to put the Hoyas back on top.

Mamukelashvili made a game-tying bucket and drew a foul at 1:57 to square things at 57-57, but he missed the free throw and on the ensuing possession, Chudier Bile hit an "and-one" of his own. He sank the free throw to make it 60-57 Georgetown.

The Pirates did not have another field goal, and the Hoyas were solid at the line in the final minute to ice the game.

Inside the Numbers

Seton Hall shot 39 percent for the game (24-for-62), 28 percent from three (5-for-18) and just 45 percent at the free throw line (5-for-11). Georgetown made 44 percent of its shots (21-for-48), 50 percent of its threes (6-for-12) and 72 percent of its foul shots (18-for-25).
Seton Hall out-rebounded the Hoyas, 38-34, and used 15 offensive rebounds to generate 18 second chance points.
The two teams combined for only 15 assists on the 45 made field goals in the contest. The Pirates had 10 of them.
Rhoden led all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting.
Mamukelashvili, who had played 44 minutes the night before, had eight points, 10 rebounds and five assists in 39 minutes.
Pickett led Georgetown with 19 points.

News & Notes

This was the 113th all-time meeting between Seton Hall and Georgetown and 10th in the BIG EAST Tournament. The Hoyas are the Pirates' most frequent conference tournament opponent. The postseason series is now tied at 5-5.
This was Seton Hall's fifth BIG EAST semifinals appearance in the last seven seasons.
Mamukelashvili now has 1,100 points for his career.
Senior Myles Cale (Middletown, Del.) moved into a tie for 46th all-time in Seton Hall scoring history with 986 career points.
Rhoden moved into the top-75 in the scoring record book and now stands in 74th at 788 career points.