Seton Hall falls to Nova, 74-72 in Big East Tournament Championship

Date: March 17, 2019

By Dagen Hughes

 

The Pirates’ hopes of a second Big East title in the last four seasons fell short on Saturday at the hands of the No. 1 seeded Villanova, 74-72. It was the third-straight Big East title for the Wildcats, who were making their fifth straight appearance.

 

Villanova was able to control the game for most of the first half, and came out of the gate, hitting seven of their first ten shots. Eric Paschall was the hot hand for the Wildcats in the first half. He went into the break with 11 points on 4-8 shooting and also grabbed 4 rebounds.

 

The Pirates were able to overcome the early first half deficit and cut the lead to just two points after the first 20 minutes. The attack was balanced for Seton Hall in the first frame, with five players tallying at least four points. Myles Powell was the scoring leader at the half for the Pirates with six.

 

The second half provided much more offense as both teams raised their field goal percentage around 15%. Both teams were able to make big shots down the stretch. The Pirates turned to their main man, Powell, in the second half. He dropped 19 points and dished out three assists in the final 20 minutes. He finished the game with 25 points, five rebounds, and four assists.

 

Villanova leaned on their playmakers and were rewarded. Paschall led the Wildcats with 17 points in the game. Phil Booth and Saddiq Bey provided a nice compliment with 16 points apiece. Jermaine Samuels added 12 points to help fuel the Villanova victory.

 

Late in the game, the Pirates were given the chance to tie or take the lead in the game. After a Paschall miss from the free throw line, the Pirates called timeout and had 8 seconds for one final shot. Powell corralled the inbounds pass and went to the right wing, but his shot hit the back of the rim. As the rebound went out near the top of the key, Booth was able to come up with it, but took one too many steps and was called for a traveling violation. The Pirates had one more opportunity. With 0.4 seconds remaining, the Pirates drew up one final play. Freshman Anthony Nelson threw the ball in, and his look was to Sandro Mamukelashvili on a lob pass to try and tip it home. The play was unsuccessful, and the Pirates’ chance of a Big East title were gone.

 

The Pirates’ season is not done, as they will now turn their attention to Sunday and see what their matchup is for the NCAA Tournament. Myles Powell thinks that the team can use this to help continue their season over the next couple weeks. “We made it here. Everybody didn’t expect us to be here. We believed in ourselves, our coaching staff believed in us. We can play with anybody in the country.”

 

The Pirates will found out who and where they are playing in the NCAA Tournament tomorrow night. WSOU will have a two-hour Selection Sunday special with Matt Ambrose, Jose Feliciano, and Chris Russo at 6 p.m.

 

Dagen Hughes can be reached at dagen.hughes@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Men's Basketball, Sports, WSOU