Seton Hall
Pirates come out weak, fall at St. John's 78-70
Date: February 24, 2019By Dalton Allison
Seton Hall men’s basketball fell to St. John’s, 78-70 in Madison Square Garden in a game where the Pirates never held a lead.
The game was lost within the first five minutes of tipoff. Marvin Clark opened up the game absolutely scintillating from behind the arc, going 3-3 from his first attempts. This, in addition to ineptitude from the Pirates while they were possessing the ball led to St. John’s holding a commanding 17-2 lead over Seton Hall heading into the first media timeout.
Turnovers continued to be a thorn in the side of the Pirates, as the seventh turnover from Seton Hall at the 12:35 mark of the first half led to an easy Shamorie Ponds layup that extended the Red Storm lead to 24-5. Only eight minutes into the game, St. John’s had generated 12 points just from Seton Hall turnovers.
Not much was cooking offensively for the Pirates in the first half, but the lone light was Michael Nzei. Nzei created six points while grabbing two boards as well. Powell, who was mostly inactive in the first half, would not stand for the same kind of four-point performance that his team put out in the first half. He recognized that the time did not play up to their full potential into the first half of the game. “As a captain and a leader, I don’t think that the effort was there in the first half” Powell said following the game.
Kevin Willard echoed the sentiment, instead putting the focus on how, as a team, they need to stop relying on Powell so heavily early in the game. “Some of these guys need to come out earlier and help out Myles in the beginning of these games, and I am going to make some adjustments to make sure that happens.”
Throwing the team on his shoulder in the second half, Powell began to come alive. After the team had not made a three-point shot in the first half, they began to start falling as Seton Hall started to cut into the deficit. The Pirates were forced to take shots from the perimeter due to a commanding presence from St. John’s inside of the paint. St. John’s, a team that averages three blocks per game, obliterated Seton Hall inside of the paint for 12 blocks.
Still, the Pirates persisted enough to make it a close game down the stretch. There were several times when Seton Hall brought their deficit to single digits. However, there were also several times that Seton Hall simply squandered opportunities to make a serious comeback into the game. A play that possibly embodied the spirit of the game most was with time dwindling down late with the Pirates only trailing by six. Rather than attempt to find an outlet for a three-point shot, Powell unselfishly made the decision to try to hit Quincy McKnight down low. The pass air-mailed, and any hopes of a Seton Hall comeback flew out the window.
With the loss, Seton Hall now falls to 16-10 overall on the season, and 7-7 in conference play. Things will not get any easier for them after this upcoming bye week, as they will have to travel to Washington D.C to take on the 16-11 overall, 6-8 conference Georgetown Hoyas, who are led by Jessie Govan.
Dalton Allison can be reached at dalton.allison@student.shu.edu
