Photo courtesy of Gabe Rhodes Photography/Seton Hall Athletics.
By David Cordova
With the Big East Tournament looming next week, every team in the conference is finishing up their final regular-season games and getting ready for ultimate stage, playoff time, which starts on Wednesday, March 8th in New York City at the World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden.
Seton Hall coming off a two-game winning streak with victories over Xavier and DePaul, came into the game with an 18-10 record overall and 8-8 in conference play. Georgetown, on the other hand, has been a struggling team all year long, as they were 14-15 overall and 5-11 in conference play.
On this evening, which was the Pirates’ Senior Night, they would send their loyal fans home happy, but the game was not without the Hoyas taking a couple of leads during the game. But as always, the Hall would find a way to remain resilient throughout and pull off a big victory in their final home game of the season.
Seton Hall 62, Georgetown 59
Georgetown drew first blood at the start of the game, taking a 5-2 lead with 17:58 to go after a three-pointer by graduate student Rodney Pryor and a layup by junior L.J. Peak. Then Seton Hall would turn things around moments later, as baskets from juniors Angel Delgado and Desi Rodriguez, as well as sophomore Michael Nzei would give the Pirates a 12-10 lead with 14:56 to go in the first half.
As the game went on, both teams struggled to get shots off and the game remained a low-scoring affair throughout. But both teams would trade baskets within the game, as there would be back and forth scoring. But then Seton Hall would turn their play around and take a six-point lead, 29-23, with 3:23 to go after a layup by freshman Myles Powell and a three by Rodriguez.
Then later on, junior Khadeen Carrington would make a layup and Rodriguez would hit another three-pointer to bring the Pirates up ten, 36-26, with 1:11 to go before the half. Their outstanding play would lead them to an eight-point lead, 38-30.
The Hoyas started off the second half playing more aggressively, as they would cut the deficit to five, 40-35, with 18:48 to go, after a three-pointer by Pryor. Their stellar play would bring them to within one, 42-41, with 15:09 left after a layup by sophomore Jessie Govan.
With under ten minutes left, Georgetown would continue to hold control of the game, leading by as much as five, 54-49, with 8:25 to go. But Seton Hall would not go down quietly as baskets by Carrington and Rodriguez would bring the Pirates to within one, 54-53, with 6:41 to go. Then moments later, Rodriguez would make a three-point play with 4:39 to go to tie the score at 56-56.
The Hoyas would lead by three, 59-56, with 2:28 to go in the game, but the moments later, with 1:53 left, Rodriguez was fouled and would make two out of three shots from the line to cut the deficit to one, 59-58. But Delgado’s layup helped the Pirates retake the lead by one, 60-59, with 1:11 to go. Then with 18 seconds left, Carrington was fouled and would make two free throws to put the Hall up three, 62-59. With one final possession, Georgetown got the ball to Pryor, who would go for a jumper that never made it to the rim, which resulted in the Pirates victory.
Rodriguez would lead Seton
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