A Tale of Two Halves as Seton Hall Falls to St. John's Inside World’s Most Famous Arena

Published: Wednesday, January 21, 2026

by Nick DiBlasi

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Seton Hall Pirates (14-5, 4-4) were defeated 65-60 by rival St. John’s Red Storm (13-5, 7-1) falling victim to a monumental second half collapse on a cold Tuesday night at the Mecca.

Coming into the matchup as major underdogs, the Pirates put the MSG crowd on notice early on with jolts of offensive star power. Forward AJ Staton-McCray opened the scoring efforts for the Hall with a quick seven points in the opening minutes (3-3 FG, 1-1 3PT).

Seton Hall’s tenacious defensive has given opposing teams trouble all season long, and this proved true once again at the Garden. The Red Storm, who normally shoot around 46% from the field and 36% from deep, only converted on one three pointer in the whole first half. To go along, they struggled to provide offense from anywhere on the court, with their only true success coming at the free throw line.

The Pirates, who pride themselves on their physical nature, oftentimes go a little overboard, and once again many key players experienced foul trouble. Three Pirates finished the matchup with four personal fouls: Stephon Payne, Mike Williams, and Josh Rivera.

While the Red Storm were battling back, the Pirates bench propelled them forward going into halftime with a 38-32 lead. 

Seton Hall’s guard play has excelled at different points this season, with TJ Simpkins and Trey Parker playing crucial roles for the Pirates on both ends of the court. Simpkins was tied for second on the team with minutes played (32) and had one of his best scoring nights this season (14). 

Right before the halftime break, Stephon Payne also shed a recent slump, scoring frequently while also competing with opposing Johnnies star Zuby Ejiofor on the glass.

The Pirates started the second half like they ended the first. A big 9-0 run out of the break, kickstarted by Staton-McCray, gave the Hall a comfortable 47-32 lead over coach Rick Pitino’s squad. Although it seemed like Seton Hall would cruise to their first win in three games, the Johnnies had other plans.

Throughout the 2025-26 season, Coach Holloway’s group has had success with playing from behind in the second half, with many late game double-digit comebacks. However, at the Garden they were in unchartered waters, and rather than doing the hunting, they were hunted. 

Along with not executing their offense in the second half, every facet of the game seemed off for the Pirates. They put up little to no fight on the glass, especially on the defensive glass, which allowed St. John’s extra possessions with many second and third chance points scored by the Johnnies.

Seton Hall’s foul issues were a constant in this one, with St. John’s shooting 18 free throws alone in the second half, converting on 12 of them. Sloppy offense made matters worse for the Pirates with only 28% shooting from the field, and a rough 1-7 effort from beyond the arc over the last 20 minutes of action.

St. John’s capped off their late game comeback with a 33-13 run on the Pirates, stealing one from the Hall at home. Down the stretch, this Seton Hall team fell victim to constant negatives throughout the season. Poor free throw shooting, the inability of shooting the deep ball, sloppy turnovers, and too much fouling.

Although they did not play a typical Seton Hall second half, there were still some notable performances from the blue and white. AJ Staton-McCray was one of the only bright spots offensively for the Pirates with 16 points, off 7-13 shooting. 

Veteran big man Stephon Payne also had another solid effort with 13 points and 15 boards, his third 15+ rebound game this season. Payne becomes the first player since Alexis Yetna to record three of those games in a single season.

The Pirates once again have a shot at redemption when they continue their road trip, with their next stop in Chicago, Illinois to take on the DePaul Blue Demons at Wintrust Arena. Lauren Reese and AJ Rayer will be on the call live for 89.5 WSOU with pregame coverage starting at 4:30 p.m., followed by a 5 p.m. slated tip.

Nick DiBlasi can be reached at nicholas.diblasi@student.shu.edu.

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