Following their comeback victory against St. John’s on Feb. 18th, Seton Hall returned home to host the Butler Bulldogs on Seton Hall vs. Cancer night, as the Pirates looked to extend its win streak to three.
“That was a good experience, just being able to embrace them as they embrace us,” senior forward Dre Davis added on the fans and atmosphere. “That means a lot and it goes a long way.”
The Pirates were active defensively to start, as graduate center Jaden Bediako denied two shots at the rim and the team poked out four steals.
"We just had to set the first punch," senior guard Al-Amir Dawes said. "Start with our defense and we knew our offense was going to come."
Offensively, the Hall provided the same intensity en route to an early 16-3 advantage. Dawes and Davis added six points each on 5-for-8 shooting, collectively.
Butler inched back, using a 7-0 spark to cut the Pirates’ advantage to five with 8:30 remaining in the half, though Davis connected from beyond-the-arc to halt the Bulldogs’ run.
Another hot streak from Butler cut Seton Hall’s lead to just four points, though back-to-back triples from senior guard Kadary Richmond and Dawes extended the lead back to 10 points with just a minute left before the break.
Seton Hall managed to hold on to a 37-32 advantage after the first 20 minutes of action thanks to three first-half double digit scorers. Dawes led all scorers with 12 points and pulled down four rebounds. Davis filled the stat sheet with 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting, three rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block. Richmond followed with 10 points.
The Bulldogs were led by senior center Jalen Thomas’ 10 points and nine points from graduate guard Posh Alexander.
Despite the early deficit, Butler came out of the half hungry and held the Pirates’ advantage to five for a majority of the second half. Seton Hall held their own, though, as they extended their lead to ten with four minutes remaining and didn’t look back. The Hall sealed a 76-64 victory.
Dre Davis led the way with 21 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Kadary Richmond was right behind him with 20 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Al-Amir Dawes added 19 points, five rebounds, and three steals. Bediako added nine points, nine rebounds, and four blocks.
"They don’t get enough credit," head coach Shaheen Holloway noted of the trio of Richmond, Dawes, and Davis. "I don’t think Dre [Davis] gets a lot of credit, but we’re not worried about that. Things speak for themselves."
Seton Hall improves to 11-5 in conference play and 18-9 overall before they travel to Nebraska to start a two-game road trip. The Pirates will take on the Creighton Bluejays on Wednesday, Feb. 28th at 9:00 p.m. before heading to Storrs, Connecticut to take on the No. 1 ranked Huskies on Sunday, March 3rd.
Thomas Donnelly is the head editor of The Setonian’s sports section. He can be reached at thomas.donnelly@student.shu.edu.
