Seton Hall University
17-9,8-8Big East
Butler
13-16,6-12Big East
Second Half Run Propels Pirates To Win Over Butler, 66-60
2/24/2022 12:52:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Rhoden drops 17 points and Yetna registers a double-double
Newark, N.J. — The Seton Hall men's basketball team used a lockdown defensive effort and rode a 20-2 run in the second half to its eighth BIG EAST win of the season as the Pirates defeated Butler, 66-60, at Prudential Center on Wednesday evening.
The Pirates (17-9, 8-8 BIG EAST) are now in sole possession of sixth place in the BIG EAST standings and have won five of their last seven games.
Senior Jared Rhoden (Baldwin, N.Y.) scored 17 points on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range and tallied two blocks and three steals. Seton Hall's big men stepped up as junior Tyrese Samuel (Montreal, Quebec) had 15 points, five rebounds and two steals and graduate student Alexis Yetna (Paris, France) posted his seventh double-double of the season with a 10-point, 10-rebound performance.
How It Happened
The Pirates started hot out of the gate by connecting on three of its first four shots, jumping out to a 7-0 lead that was capped off by a Rhoden three-pointer.
Butler would later take an 8-7 lead on a dunk in transition that set off a back-and-forth affair for a majority of the first half. The Bulldogs would create some separation with 3:38 to play in the first half as a three-point basket by Bryce Golden gave Butler a 30-24 lead.
The Hall would battle back though as a mid-range jumper by Rhoden beat the first half buzzer that knotted up the score at 34-34.
Seton Hall trailed by two, 38-36, with 15:20 to play when the Pirates used ferocious defense and timely shooting to build a 16-point lead. The Hall held Butler without a field goal for 9:06 and back-to-back threes by graduate student Jamir Harris (North Brunswick, N.J.) polished off a 20-2 run that gave the Pirates a 56-40 advantage with 6:35 to play.
The lead would be whittled down to as little as two, 58-56, with 1:53 to go but a second-chance bucket by Yetna with 1:02 left pushed the Seton Hall lead back to four, 60-56. Graduate student Myles Cale (Middletown, Del.) hit his second shot of the night with 21 seconds left that made it four-point lead again, 62-58, that helped put the game away.
Inside The Box Score
- Seton Hall shot 40 percent for the game (25-for-62), 27 percent from three (6-for-22) and 91 percent at the free throw line (10-for-11). Butler shot 41 percent from the field (22-for-54), 33 percent from three (6-for-18) and 83 percent at the charity stripe (10-for-12).
- The Pirates narrowly won the rebounding battle, 38-32, and generated 35 bench points to Butler's seven
- Seton Hall tallied eight blocks and forced 15 Butler turnovers.
- There were nine lead changes in the first half but only one lead change after halftime.
News & Notes
- Seton Hall has now won nine of the last 12 meetings against Butler and its 8-3 against the Bulldogs since 2017-18.
- The Pirates are now 11-2 at Prudential Center this season and 155-69 all-time.
- The Hall is now 32-19 in the month of February since 2016.
- The Pirates are now 128-19 since 2015-16 when their lead grows to seven points or more at any juncture of the game.
- Seton Hall is now 14-0 this season when holding teams under 70 points and 14-1 when its either leading or tied at halftime.
Up Next
Seton Hall travels to Xavier for a 3:30 p.m. game on FOX on Saturday, Feb. 26. The Pirates return home to Prudential Center for Senior Night against Georgetown on Wednesday, March 2, at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at www.setonhalltix.com/SHUvsGU.
