Seton Hall
Reynolds nails game-winner, Pirates jump Johnnies 76-74
Date: December 30, 2018By Wilnir Louis
In their Big East opener, Shavar Reynolds was the man of the night, hitting a game winner and giving Seton Hall a 76-74 victory against St. John’s in a thriller at the Prudential Center.
St. John’s started the game on fire, with two three pointers by Mustapha Heron and Marvin Clark II giving the Red Storm an early 6-0 lead. A jumper by Michael Nzei cut the Hall’s deficit to 6-2 with 18:28 left in the first half. The Red Storm would respond with a scoring storm, going on a 7-0 run before a second-chance layup by Myles Powell made the score 13-4 with 16:54 left in the first half. Seton Hall would slowly claw at the deficit, with St. John’s leading 24-20 with 10:32 left in the half. However, a three pointer by Bryan Trimble Jr. would spark another 7-0 run for the Red Storm. Their lead held around that, as going into the half time break, St. John’s held a 45-36 lead.
In the first half, St. John’s shot 16-31 from the floor, with 7-14 of that coming from behind the arc. The Red Storm also had 18 points off of turnovers. In comparison, Seton Hall shot 14-30 from the floor, 2-10 from three-point range, and had only three points off of turnovers.
In the second half, St. John’s started off by making their first three shots of the half, making the score 51-31 after a made jumper by Justin Simon. Both teams would trade baskets along with both teams hitting scoring a drought, and the lead did not go under seven points in for St. John’s.
The six-minute mark is when Seton Hall began their comeback. A fast break dunk by Powell cut the Red Storm lead to 69-63 with 5:17 left and woke up the fans at the Prudential Center. The Pirates then continued to cut into the deficit on the free throw line, as Mamukelashvili and Powel went 2-2 on their respective trips to make the score 69-66 with 4:20 left. Mamukelashvili then hit a 3-pointer from the wing to tie everything up at 69.
Coming out of the media timeout, Marvin Clark II hit a three pointer himself to give St. John’s a 72-69 lead with 2:26 left. McKnight banked a midrange jumper to make the score 72-71 with 1:33 left. A driving layup by Myles Powell gave Seton Hall their first lead of the night, a 73-72 score with one minute left. Mustapha Heron went 2-2 on the line following a Cale foul to give the Red Storm a 74-73 lead with 44 seconds left. After missed free throws by Red Storm players, Reynolds hit the big shot of the night, hitting a three-point buzzer beater and giving the Pirates the 76-74 victory.
At the end of the game, Reynolds explained how the team was able to come back and win the game.
“At the end of the day, it [came] down to how bad we wanted it.”
Powell echoed Reynold’s will that the team had in the post-game interview.
“The pre-season prepared us. We’re battle tested. This isn’t a position we haven’t been in before, and it showed today”
As for Kevin Willard, he had one thing to say about this win.
“I think this is the best win I ever had in this building.”
The Pirates will return to action on Jan. 2, when they go to Cincinnati, Ohio to face Xavier at 6:30 P.M. That game will be broadcasted live on 89.5 FM WSOU.
Wilnir Louis can be reached at wilnir.louis@student.shu.edu.
