Pirates advance to face UConn
Seton Hall entered the Big East Tournament on a five-game winning streak, the longest in the conference. They stayed hot early against Georgetown, scoring the game’s first four points and forcing Patrick Ewing to burn an early timeout.
Out of that timeout, the Hoyas seemed to find some of that spark that propelled them to a championship in this building a year ago. Georgetown’s freshman sensation, Aminu Mohammed, began to light up the scoreboard, scoring the next six points. Georgetown put together a 13-2 run and raced out to a 13-4 lead behind Mohammed, Collin Holloway, and Donald Carey. Carey knocked down the game’s first triple and added a fast break jumper to put Georgetown ahead by nine less than six minutes in.
Kadary Richmond and Myles Cale answered for Seton Hall, with the latter hitting their first three, to cut the score to 13-9 with 11:57 to play in the opening frame.
The teams traded baskets for the rest of the half, and Georgetown went to the locker room with a 27-24 lead.
Seton Hall got all 24 points from just three players. Myles Cale led the Pirates with ten, including two triples, and Kadary Richmond with nine. Jared Rhoden was their only other scorer with five points.
The Hoyas had a little more variety, with nine each from Mohammed and Carey, five from Tyler Beard, and two each from Holloway and Ighoefe.
Both teams’ rim protectors were on full display as well. Seton Hall’s Ike Obiagu recorded three first-half blocks and teammate Richmond added a block of his own. Ighoefe and Mohammed both had blocks for Georgetown.
Less than 90 seconds into the second half, the Pirates took the lead back. Jared Rhoden’s dunk followed by Alexis Yetna’s layup put Seton Hall ahead 28-27. The lead was short-lived as Ighoefe and Carey each notched buckets to put Georgetown ahead by three again.
The back-and-forth was a theme of the second half. Five points in a row for Seton Hall. Six for Georgetown. Six for Seton Hall. A 9-3 Georgetown run. Jamir Harris hit a three. Kaiden Rice answered with his second of the game.
Down 50-46, Seton Hall scored six straight, punctuated by a Yetna slam in transition. The Hall lead 52-50 with 2:53 on the game clock and the actual clock at midnight.
After a Mohammed free throw cut the deficit to one, Collin Holloway charged to the basket and put the Hoyas back on top with 65 seconds left to play.
Twenty-five seconds later, the Seton Hall student section erupted as Jamir Harris knocked down a deep three to put the Pirates back on top 55-53.
Seton Hall was 40 seconds away from a sixth straight win and a date with UConn on Thursday. Holloway fired a three from the corner and came up short. Carey tried for the putback but was rejected by Obiagu.
Georgetown got a second chance to tie the game after Yetna missed the front end of a one-and-one. It was wasted after Donald Carey threw a pass intended for Kaiden Rice out of bounds with six seconds to play.
Rhoden knocked down two free throws to seal the game, the final score read Seton Hall 55, Georgetown 53.
Rhoden finished with a game-high 17 points. Myles Cale also finished in double-figures with 14 points.
The loss marked Georgetown’s 21st consecutive and ended their season without a win over a Big East opponent.
The win was Seton Hall’s six in a row and ninth in eleven games. The Pirates match up with UConn at 9:30 Thursday night in the Big East quarterfinals.