WSOU

No.10 Seton Hall downs Providence at home, 73-64

Date: January 23, 2020

By: Justin Morris

The Seton Hall Pirates made it nine straight victories, while improving to 7-0 in the Big East, following a 73-64 win over the Providence Friars in a late-night Wednesday bout.

Romaro Gill was absolutely stellar throughout the tilt, and showed it was going to be a night of dominance for him early on. His Big East surge continues to prove ever-apparent, and he was a complete mismatch height-wise for a Providence squad that was undoubtedly lacking in that category.

He was most effective in the screen and roll, throwing down two thunderous dunks off well- placed alley-oop passes before powering home two more solo slams to begin his scoring output. He finished with 13 at the end of the first half.

The initial half was a back and forth battle as former Pan-American running-mates Kevin Willard and Ed Cooley put their wits to the test in their first head-to-head contention since being paired together over the summer. Myles Powell got off to a slow start, and his three first half points were amongst his lowest for a half all season. The team though, shot 60% from the field, and had key contributions from many other pieces aside from Powell.

“Ed did a good job of guarding me today,” Powell said postgame. “He was the head coach at the Pan-Am games so he knew how I liked to score…so he was just throwing different defenses at me, but I’m very proud of my guys and how they picked up the slack.”

And pick it up they did. Jared Rhoden had 15 points on 6-8 from the field, while Quincy McKnight put up 11 to go with eight assists. Tyrese Samuel had huge possessions as well, including a momentous signature putback dunk, and Shavar Reynolds played stifling defense in the second half.

The dunks for Gill continued on, and despite just four points in the second period, he led the Pirates in scoring with 17, and nearly notched a double-double with eight total blocks while pulling down six rebounds. His posterizing slam over Providence’s David Duke though, may have been the one to put the nail in the coffin, and it sent the home crowd into an absolute frenzy.

As expected, Alpha Diallo was the alpha dog for Providence’s offense. His familiarity with Willard’s strategy, as well as Powell, shone through as he led the team in scoring and rebounds. A late scoring charge from him towards the end of the second half was rendered moot as the Pirates’ had built an insurmountable lead, which allowed Gill and company to send Providence home packing with an L and remain undefeated in the conference.

The Friars outshot the Hall 88-72% from the free throw line, and outrebounded them 33-27, but the Pirates thoroughly outshot Providence from field-goal range 58 to 36%, which proved to be the game’s deciding factor.

The win was the 78th in Big East play for coach Kevin Willard, which tied him with former Pirate great PJ Carlesimo for most all-time in the conference. This is the Pirates’ best start to Big East play in program history, and what makes it even scarier is the absence of four-man Sandro Mamukelashvili.

As for his status, Willard said, “he’ll be cleared to practice by next Wednesday, but he won’t play in the next game.”

Seton Hall will get a week off before another home test against surprise DePaul next Wednesday.

Justin Morris can be reached at justin.morris@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, WSOU, Men's Basketball

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