Pirates Complete Double-Digit Comeback at Xavier

Wednesday, January 2

Cincinnati, Ohio

6:30 p.m.

Seton Hall University

11-3, 2-0BE

Xavier

9-6, 1-1BE

Seton Hall

Xavier

1/2/2019 10:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score BOX (PDF)

CINCINNATI – The Seton Hall men's basketball team trailed by 10 with 12:16 remaining, but closed the game on a 34-14 run to complete its second double-digit comeback in as many games, taking down Xavier, 80-70, at Cintas Center on Wednesday night for its seventh consecutive win.

Junior Myles Powell (Trenton, N.J.) poured in 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting, pulled down a team-high six rebounds, and tallied a career-high eight assists. Sophomore Sandro Mamukelshvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) finished with 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Junior Romaro Gill (St. Thomas, Jamaica) filled the box score with four points, five boards, four blocks and three steals.

HIGHLIGHTS: Incredible effort by our guys tonight to go get the win on the road in BIG EAST play #HALLin pic.twitter.com/D6CBALaESf
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) January 3, 2019

Turning Point

The Pirates trailed 56-46 after a three-pointer by Xavier's Paul Scruggs at the 12:16 mark in the second half. However, over the next 2:37 the Pirates flipped the script on both sides of the ball. Gill began the rally with a dunk, and finished with three steals and two blocks during that span as the Pirates cut the lead to 58-57 with 9:39 to go.

Gill later slammed it home with 4:48 remaining to give Seton Hall a 65-63 advantage, its first lead since 31-30 with 4:58 left in the first half. Next, Powell sank a fade away jumper with 3:11 to go to take a two point lead, 70-68. After another block from Gill, Powell scored a tough layup off a pass from junior Quincy McKnight (Bridgeport, Conn.).

After a miss from Xavier on the following possession, McKnight made it 74-68 after an incredible driving layup with 1:27 remaining. An alley-oop from Powell to Mamukelashvili and four free throw makes in four attempts sealed the victory for The Hall.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!! #HALLin pic.twitter.com/yudzmkYcHm
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) January 3, 2019

Inside the Numbers

The Pirates shot 50.8 percent (31-of-61) for the game, while Xavier shot 46.6 (27-of-58)
In the second half, Seton Hall limited the Musketeers to 10-of-27 shooting (37.0 percent)
Seton Hall finished with 20 assists and 11 turnovers
A big difference between the first and second half was Seton Hall turnovers, the Pirates had eight in the opening 20 minutes and just three in the second half, matching their season average of 11 per game.
Sophomore Myles Cale (Middletown, Del.) scored nine points and had two steals
A total of nine different Pirates contributed four or more points
Xavier led for 29:33 and the lead changed just four times in the game
Seton Hall finished with a 44-38 advantage in the paint and an 18-11 advantage in points off turnovers

KEEPING IT ROLLING!!! Make it SEVEN in a row!!!

2-0 in the BIG EAST 🙌

Presented by @LifeStorage #HALLin pic.twitter.com/e6K23jNynO
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) January 3, 2019

News & Notes

Wednesday marked the 15th true road game win with attendance over 8,500 over the last four seasons, and second of the season (Maryland)
Gill's four blocks were the second-most of his young career at Seton Hall, he entered the game fourth in the BIG EAST with 1.4 per game
With 25 points, Wednesday marked with eighth 20-point game of the season for Myles Powell
Powell's eight assists were a career-high
The Pirates improve to 30-6 over the last three seasons when opponents have more turnovers
Wednesday's win was the fourth of the season when trailing at halftime (Kentucky, Maryland, St. John's), and second consecutive win when trailing by double-digits
Seton Hall improves to 11-8 in the all-time series with Xavier, and picks up its first win in Cincinnati over the Musketeers since Feb. 1, 2014.
The current seven-game winning streak for Seton Hall is its longest since it opened the season 7-0 in 2014-15. The Pirates have not won eight straight since it opened the 2009-10 season 8-0.

Up Next

The Pirates head to Chicago on Sunday for a 1 p.m. BIG EAST game at DePaul on FS1. Dave Popkin and Joe DeSantis will have the radio broadcast on AM970 The Answer, simulcast on the SHU Pirates App.