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  • Seton Hall Still Dancing In The NIT After The Pirates Down UNLV, 91-68

Seton Hall Still Dancing In The NIT After The Pirates Down UNLV, 91-68

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Basketball

All five starters scored in double figures, led by 21 points from Al-Amir Dawes (Newark, N.J.), as the Seton Hall men's basketball team took down UNLV, 91-68, on Wednesday night inside Walsh Gymnasium to advance to the semifinals of the NIT.

The Pirates, who led wire-to-wire in the victory, were also bolstered by a double-double from Kadary Richmond (Brooklyn, N.Y.). The guard finished with 16 points and 10 assists and connected on 7-of-9 shots from the floor. Dre Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.) finished with 14 points, Dylan Addae-Wusu (Bronx, N.Y.) poured in 12 points, and Jaden Bediako (Brampton, Ontario) went a perfect 5-for-5 from the field to finish with 10 points.

With the win, the Pirates will take on Georgia in the NIT Semifinals on Tuesday night from Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. Tip time is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2. The game will be broadcast by the Seton Hall Basketball Radio Network on the SHU Pirates Mobile App, SiriusXM, Varsity Network and SHUPirates.com.

How It Happened

Seton Hall connected on four of its first five field goals to take an 11-2 lead early in the first half. The Pirates' first double-digit lead of the game came after a layup made by Sadraque NgaNga (Luanda, Angola) gave the Pirates' a 19-9 advantage but UNLV answered with a 5-0 run that cut its deficit in half.

A dunk for the Runnin' Rebels with 4:46 left before halftime made it an eight-point game, 28-20, when Richmond took over offensively. Richmond started his surge with a defensive rebound on on one end and finishing with a layup on the other. He then came up with a steal on the next defensive possession and found Dawes in the corner for a three-pointer that pushed Seton Hall lead to 13, 33-20. Richmond would go on to score Seton Hall's next seven points and the Pirates went into the locker room leading 44-26.

It was Dawes' turn to shine at the start of the second half as he went on his own 9-0 run on three made trifectas that widened the Pirates' margin to 53-26, forcing UNLV to call a timeout. The Pirates held serve the rest of the way. The closes the Runnin' Rebels got to closing the gap was 19 was three different occasions, the last time coming on a three-pointer that made it 79-60 with 4:44 to play. However, back-to-back treys by NgaNga and Jaquan Sanders (Queens, N.Y.) pushed The Hall's lead back to 25, 85-60, at the 3:29 mark.

Inside the Box Score

  • Seton Hall shot 56 percent rom the floor, 44 percent from three-point range and 10-of-11 (91 percent) from the free-throw line.
  • The Pirates dished out 22 assists 35 made field goals and committed 12 turnovers.
  • The Pirates scored 17 points off of 13 UNLV turnovers.
  • UNLV scored 46 of its 68 points in the paint while Seton Hall scored 42 paints in the paint.
  • The Hall held the Runnin' Rebels to 34 percent shooting in the first half and 0-of-9 shooting from three-point land.
  • UNLV shot just 5-of-21 from beyond the arc for the game.
  • Seton Hall's starting all finished in double-figures.
  • NgaNga finished with nine points and Sanders had six points.
  • David Tubek (Juba, South Sudan) finished with two points, a rebound and an assist in nearly eight minutes.

News & Notes

  • Seton Hall's 23 wins this season is tied for the 10th most in program history.
  • The last time the Pirates won at least 23 games was 2016 when the BIG EAST champion-Pirates won 25 games.
  • Seton Hall is now 3-3 all-time against UNLV.
  • The Pirates have won 33 of its last 34 games against non-conference opponents at Walsh Gym and they're 432-143 all-time in their gym on campus.
  • Seton Hall will be making their first appearance in the semifinals of the NIT since 1953.
  • Seton Hall improves to 11-19 all-time in NIT games.
  • The Pirates are 19-6 this season when Dawes scores in double-figures and 9-3 when he's the team's leading scorer.
  • Seton Hall is 4-0 in Walsh Gym this season and 17-3 overall as the home team.
  • Seton Hall is 20-1 this season when leading at halftime.
  • Richmond's 17 points gives him 1,070 in his career at Seton Hall, moving him past Anthony Avent and tying him with Danny Hurley for 42nd all-time in program history.
  • Richmond now has 497 career assists and 411 assists at Seton Hall, moving him past Paul Lane and Nick Galis and into sole possession of 10th all-time in program history.
  • Richmond is the first player to register at least 10 assists and no turnovers since Quincy McKnight against Georgetown 
  • Dawes now has 1,793 career points and 926 points in two seasons as a Pirate.
  • Davis has scored in double-figures in 29 of Seton Hall's 35 games this season.
  • 10 of Dawes' 18 career 20-point performance have come this season.