Coming off a tough loss to #23 Creighton on Wednesday, the Pirates traveled to the Wells Fargo center in Philadelphia to take on the Villanova Wildcats.
Seton Hall used a 7-0 run led by Kadary Richmond following a Wildcats triple to open the game to take a 4-point advantage with 12:42 remaining in the first half. A Tray Jackson dunk and a KC Ndefo post-move helped the Pirates stay on top after Villanova tied it, though an 11-0 burst from the Wildcats gave them a 7-point lead.
Villanova held onto the lead for the remainder of the half, though Seton Hall scored the last 4 points before the break as Tyrese Samuel made his way inside and Al-Amir Dawes scored at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 7 points headed into intermission, 27-20.
A first half dominated by defense, Richmond led with 7 points and Dawes followed with 5 points. Ndefo followed with 4 points while Jackson and Samuel added 2 points each to round out the scoring for the first 20 minutes.
Richmond knocked down a shot from behind-the-arc to spark a 13-1 burst for The Hall that cut the Wildcats’ lead to just one with 9:31 left in the game. Despite the run, the Pirates never led in the second half as Villanova worked their way back to a double-digit advantage. Jamir Harris knocked down a three-pointer late in the game, but Seton Hall walked away with another devastating loss.
Falling 58-54, the Pirates were led by Samuel’s double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds. Dawes added 13 points, while Richmond nearly had a double-double with 13 points and 9 assists, also grabbing 5 rebounds.
The Hall now sits at 8-7 in conference play and 15-11 overall. Seton Hall returns to action on Tuesday for a Valentine’s Day matchup against Georgetown at 6:00 pm at the Prudential Center for “Seton Hall vs. Cancer” night.
Thomas Donnelly can be reached at thomas.donnelly@student.shu.edu. Find him on Twitter @_tommyd023.
