Following a close loss on the road to Villanova on Saturday, Seton Hall showed their love for the game with a Valentine’s Day showdown against the Georgetown Hoyas at The Rock.
The Pirates scored on their first three possessions to jump out to a 6-0 edge at the 18:35 mark of the first half, though Georgetown scored on their next three possessions to tie the game. Back-to-back triples from Al-Amir Dawes pushed the lead back to six, 16-10, though Georgetown was able to make it a one-point game.
An 8-0 run sparked by two free throws from Tray Jackson gave The Hall their largest lead of the game at nine points with 3:41 remaining before the break. The Pirates would end up with a seven-point advantage, 27-20, headed into the half thanks to late free throws from Tyrese Samuel.
Samuel was dominant down-low in the first half, scoring 8 of his 10 points in the paint. Dawes added 6 points in the first 20 minutes of play, followed by 4 points from Femi Odukale.
Kadary Richmond connected from downtown on the Pirates’ first offensive possession of the second half thanks to an Odukale assist, and gave the team their first double-digit lead of the night. Georgetown kept the game close, though a 7-0 burst with 12:45 left in the game pushed The Hall’s advantage to 15 points.
The Hoyas had just one field goal fall in their favor from the 18:50 mark to the 9:00 minute mark, once again proving head coach Shaheen Holloway’s defensive priority.
Georgetown cut their deficit to just four with under a minute remaining, though Seton Hall closed the game at the charity stripe once again and pulled out a 76-68 victory. Dawes led all scorers with 20 points on 5-for-10 from the field and Samuel added a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double. Richmond and Ndefo had 14 points and 11 points, respectively.
Odukale was the defensive anchor in this matchup, pulling down a career-high 10 rebounds to go with four steals on Tuesday night. He added 8 points to his all-around game.
Seton Hall improves to 9-7 in conference play and 16-11 overall as the Big East tournament approaches. They will return to the hardwood on Saturday, Feb. 18th in Storrs, Connecticut as they face UConn at 12:00pm.
Thomas Donnelly can be reached at thomas.donnelly@student.shu.edu. Find him on Twitter @_tommyd023.
