SETON HALL SPEEDS TO WIN OVER ST. JOHN'S

by Ray Floriani


NEWARK, NJ – Mark it down as three straight for Seton Hall. The Pirates defeated St. John’s 91-81 at the Prudential Center on Thursday evening. A tempo free breakdown…

Final totals…

Team.............Possessions.............Efficiency
St.John’s............71.....................114
Seton Hall...........73.....................125


What Seton Hall did well. Impose their ‘will’ on the game. Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez noted that getting an uptempo team to slow things down as opposed to doing the reverse, force a slower team to kick it high gear. Seton Hall did just that. St.John’s prefers a low sixty possession outing but by going small and applying some pressure defense, the Hall increased the tempo and built a significant early lead.

What St. John’s did well. Operate effectively inside. In the second half when they trimmed a 17 point deficit to a two possession game, the Red Storm got in the paint. DJ Kennedy (20) points was particularly effective. For the game, St. John’s enjoyed a strong 41% offensive rebounding percentage and won the battle of the boards 40-33.

Jeremy Hazell, the Seton Hall sharpshooter, led all scorers with 31 points. These evenings are becoming a regular occurrence for the scintillating soph.

Seton Hall even shot better from three than two point range.

Two point shooting................Three point shooting
21-42 (50%.............................8-14 (57%)

St. John’s was led by Paris Horne’s 21 points and is now 12-10 (3-7 Big East). Seton Hall improved to 12-9 (3-6 Big East).

Quotes:

“A lot of people look at points allowed to determine if a team is good defensively. Points allowed is affected by the pace of the game, we prefer to look at points per possession. That gives a better indication of a team’s defense.” –Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez

“We looked at this four game home stretch and hoped to get three. We lost the first one in overtime to Providence in a game we should have won. Coming back to beat Georgetown and getting that first conference win was huge. You need that first win to start a streak and now our kids are more confident. To win three straight after starting 0-6 in this league is something.” – Gonzalez

“We dug too deep a hole to come back. We didn’t defend very well but no excuses, they just outplayed us.” – St. John’s coach Norm Roberts