Pirates Can't Hold on at St. John's

Saturday, March 6

Queens, N.Y.

7 p.m.

Seton Hall University

13-12,10-9Big East

St. John's

16-10,10-9Big East

Seton Hall

St. John's (NY)

3/6/2021 9:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

Queens, N.Y. - The Seton Hall men's basketball team raced out to an 18-0 lead at St. John's, but the Red Storm came all the way back to beat the Pirates, 81-71, Saturday night at Carnesecca Arena.

Senior Sandro Mamukelashvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) led the Pirates with 15 points. He was one of four Pirates in double figures as senior Shavar Reynolds Jr. (Manchester, N.J.) added 13, senior Bryce Aiken (Randolph, N.J.) had 10 points and junior Jared Rhoden (Baldwin, N.Y.) also added 10 points.

Seton Hall finishes the BIG EAST regular season with a 10-9 record, its sixth straight season of .500 or better in the ultra-competitive conference. The Pirates will either be the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament and will know its schedule at the conclusion of the Xavier-Marquette game.

Turning Point
Seton Hall was fantastic in the early going, sprinting out to an 18-0 lead on the strength of six points apiece from Mamukelashvili and Rhoden. Eight different Pirates scored in the first half and six different guys had at least one assist. The Red Storm missed their first 10 shots of the game.

However, St. John's chipped away at the lead with some threes while the Pirates went cold. Seton Hall went into halftime still leading by 10, 38-28, but the Red Storm opened the second half on a 28-8 run and never looked back. St. John's scored 53 second-half points while the Pirates only had 11 field goals in the final 20.

The Hall was within six, 70-64, with 3:30 to play, but Marcellus Earlington's three-pointer with 2:41 remaining to shut the door on the comeback.

Inside the Numbers

Seton Hall shot 41 percent from the field (24-for-59), 32 percent from deep (7-for-22) and 76 percent at the free throw line (16-for-21). St. John's made 52 percent of its shots overall (29-for-56), 45 percent from three-point range (10-for-22) and 81 percent at the foul line (13-for-16).
The Pirates had the slight advantage in paint points, 32-30, but St. John's had the slight edge in rebounding, 33-32. The Red Storm used nine offensive rebounds to generate 12 second chance points.
St. John's had 24 fast break points to Seton Hall's eight.
Mamukelashvili led the Pirates with 15 points and 10 rebounds as well as four assists.
Reynolds Jr. had 13 points and three assists.
Rhoden added 10 points and seven rebounds.
Aiken had 10 points in 18 minutes off the bench.
Junior Ike Obiagu (Abuja, Nigeria) had nine points, seven rebounds and three blocks.

News & Notes

This was only Seton Hall's fourth loss to St. John's in the last 14 matchups.
This was Seton Hall's first game at Carnesecca Arena since Feb. 21, 2015.
Mamukelashvili moved into 39th place all-time in Seton Hall scoring history. He now has 1,072 career points.

Up Next
Seton Hall will begin its quest for a BIG EAST Tournament title on either Wednesday or Thursday on FS1. Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will deliver the radio broadcast on AM970 The Answer, simulcast on the Pirate Sports Network, TuneIn and an XM satellite radio station to be determined.