Seton Hall
Seton Hall Bounces Back to Defeat Vanderbilt in Third Place Game of NIT Season Tip-Off
Date: November 25, 2017
(Photo: SHU Athletics)
By: Chris Schweitzer
The Pirates were looking to get their season back on track after a loss to Rhode Island the night before and were successful with a 72-59 victory over Vanderbilt.
The Pirates seemed to be playing with a chip on their shoulder early as they jumped out to a quick 13-4 lead within the first six minutes. That nine point lead would end up being their biggest of the first half as Vanderbilt would slowly close the gap over the remainder of the half. The Commodores would eventually take the lead and get as much as a five point cushion with 4:27 left in the first. The Pirates were able to get the Commodores lead down to one and trailed 32-31 going into halftime. Despite Seton Hall trailing at the half, Desi Rodriguez led all scorers with 15 points in the first half.
The second half started very similar to the first as Seton Hall came out playing very well on both sides of the ball. They scored the first seven points of the half, and were able to hold Vanderbilt scoreless for the first six minutes of the second half, and going back to the first half left Vanderbilt in an 11 minute scoring drought. Seton Hall would dominate the rest of the game as they were able to hold a double-digit lead for most of the second half. The Pirates would lead by as much as 17 at one point the game and finished the game off with a three pointer to give them the 72-59 victory and a third place game victory in the NIT pre-season tip-off tournament.
Seton Hall failed to get much going from behind the three-point line in this game as they only shot 4-for-18 for the contest. Myles Powell and Rodriguez took the most shots with seven and six shots, respectively, but they only managed to make one each. Despite shooting 16 percent from beyond the arc, Rodriguez finished the game with 27 points on 12-for-21 shooting from the field. Desi found a lot of success driving to the basket and in the mid-range game as he converted 11 of his 15 shots from inside the three-point line.
Other notable performances were from Angel Delgado who finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Angel was only able to attempt nine shots as he faced a lot of defensive pressure every time he touched the ball down low. Ish Sanogo also had a notable performance as he earned the start in this game over Michael Nzei with Coach Willard looking for a defensive spark. Sanogo rewarded his coach with a very good defensive performance as he totaled seven defensive rebounds, four blocks, and one steal.
The Pirates next game is Thursday, Nov. 30 as they take on Texas Tech at Madison Square Garden. Tune into 89.5 FM WSOU for live coverage of the game.
Chris Schweitzer can be reached at christopher.schweitzer@student.shu.edu.
