The Seton Hall men’s basketball team celebrated Senior Night with an 86-62 victory over the DePaul Blue Demons, marking DePaul’s winless conference showing at 0-20. The contest was especially important, considering that the seeding decision for the BIG EAST tournament was still ongoing.
Senior forward Dre Davis led the Pirates with an efficient 28 points on 10-for-15 shooting and seven rebounds, scoring efficiently on all three levels. Senior forward Dylan Addae-Wusu tallied 19 points, knocking down three triples.
Kadary Richmond found Davis open at the rim for a layup to give the Pirates their first lead of the game, 2-0.
Addae-Wusu found himself open a number of times from the right wing. He shot with no hesitation, going 1-for-3 from behind the arc early in the contest.
Davis would knock down his first three-pointer of the game from the left wing to give the Pirates a 10-7 lead at the 14:28 mark in the first period. The game stayed close in the opening stages, with the Pirates gradually pulling away.
As they inched closer towards halftime, Davis hit another big three, also from the left wing. Dawes ran towards the basket, whipped the ball behind his head to Davis, who hit the shot.
Graduate big Jaden Bediako would convert on a layup seconds before halftime that extended the Pirates lead to 35-26.
Despite the Pirates playing well, Dawes and Richmond were having a rare down period shooting a combined 2-11 in the first half.
For an unknown reason, Davis came out of the second half wearing a #27 jersey with no last name on the back. The number change didn’t stop him from scoring, as he hit a three from the top of the key immediately. He had 15 points at this point in the game, leading the team.
Kadary Richmond maneuvered his way through defenders for a layup, impressing the Pirate faithful in the process. The Pirates held a commanding 44-29 advantage.
DePaul was struggling, as their highest scorer was at just six points with 15 minutes remaining in the game. Elijah Fisher and Chico Carter Jr. each had 6 points for the Blue Demons.
Perhaps the flashiest play of the game was a Dawes no-look pass to Elijah Hutchins-Everett, who slammed it home and extended the Pirates’ lead,60-38. Dawes drove into the paint before dishing it to Hutchins-Everett.
Carter Jr. hit a three from the top of the key, dribbling around a well-set screen. The game was far out of hand by this point, but he’d been playing well with 14 points at.
Coming off the court with a smile, Davis was replaced after a standing round of applause with under 5 minutes to go in the game. This was the Pirates 20th victory of the season, as they went 20-11 on the regular season.
“One of the best coaches I ever played for,” Davis said about Pirates Head Coach Shaheen Holloway. “This is what I came here for. I truly believe in his vision for this program, for this team; that’s why I came back. And we’re seeing it come into fruition now.”
The Pirates look forward to the BIG EAST tournament, as they clinched a first-round bye after defeating Villanova on March 6. The official seeding for the tournament has yet to be determined and updates will be made to this article when more information is available.
Matt Soetebeer is the Setonian’s assistant sports editor. He can be reached at matthew.soetebeer@student.shu.edu.
