It was the story of Seton Hall’s surprisingly strong season: shaky at the start but picking up steam as the game went on.
Down 19 points early, the Pirates didn’t let a poor first half ruin their trip to UBS Arena.
Instead, they bolstered their NCAA Tournament hopes with a fifth Quad 1 win, rallying past fading St. John’s, 68-62, Sunday night.
Picked to finish ninth in the Big East, Seton Hall is tied with Creighton for third place.
Most impressively, the Pirates have rebounded nicely from their ugly blowout loss at Villanova last Sunday, hammering Xavier and getting past St. John’s.
“We’re just fighting,” Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said. “Like I told you guys the other night, the team that played against Villanova, I don’t know that team. We showed that heart tonight, and I was happy to see it.”
The win exemplified Seton Hall (17-9, 10-5) this season.
The big three of Kadary Richmond, Al-Amir Dawes and Dre Davis combined to score 52 points even with Davis playing on a bad right ankle.
Davis didn’t practice since hurting the ankle on Wednesday, but still made a difference with 15 points and seven rebounds.
Jaden Bediako (eight points, nine rebounds) was the best center on the floor in the second half.
And the Pirates were the tougher team when it mattered, shaking off a poor shooting night by forcing their way into the paint and getting to the free-throw line 37 times.
Over the final 21:36, they outscored St. John’s by a whopping 38 points.
The game began to turn late in the first half, as Seton Hall cut a 19-point deficit to 12.
Momentum carried over past halftime.
While St. John’s was missing 11 of its first 12 shots, its local rival was further cutting into the lead.
Richmond, in particular, was terrific after halftime, notching 14 points and nine rebounds.
Dawes’ 3-pointer pushed the lead to four with 2:30 left and Richmond added a three-point play.
“They were the epitome of toughness in the second half,” St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said.
Afterwards, Seton Hall didn’t want to talk about the NCAA Tournament bubble, preferring to focus on its remaining five games.
Obviously, so much can still happen between now and Selection Sunday on March 17.
But if it merely takes care of business at home against DePaul, Butler and Villanova, it looks like the Hall will return to the dance.
“We’re headed in a good direction,” Dawes said.