Sixth-seeded Seton Hall survived an upset bid by 11th-seeded Georgetown and won 57-53 in the first round of the Big East tournament Wednesday night in New York.
The Hoyas, who last won a game Dec. 15 and went 0-19 against the Big East in the regular season, led the contest for 26:03 before the magic ran out and Seton Hall pulled away. The Pirates will face third-seeded and 20th-ranked UConn in the next round Thursday night.
Jared Rhoden scored a game-high 17 points and Myles Cale added 14 points and five rebounds for Seton Hall (21-9), which earned a sixth consecutive win. Kadary Richmond, playing through a sprained thumb, chipped in nine points and three assists in 17 minutes before sitting most of the second half.
The Pirates scored six straight points while holding Georgetown without a field goal for four minutes late in the game. Rhoden blocked a 3-point attempt to set up Alexis Yetna’s fastbreak dunk, putting Seton Hall up 52-50 with 2:52 to go.
Georgetown’s Collin Holloway hit a driving layup to give the Hoyas a 53-52 lead with 65 seconds remaining. But Jamir Harris nailed the go-ahead 3-pointer from NBA distance with 40 seconds left, and the Hoyas’ final two possessions came up empty.
Freshman Aminu Mohammed posted 12 points and 10 rebounds to lead Georgetown (6-25), which took its 21st straight loss. Donald Carey and Holloway scored 11 points apiece.
The Hoyas dominated the boards, outrebounding Seton Hall 48-34 with a 21-9 advantage on the offensive glass. They scored 16 second-chance points to the Pirates’ six.
An early 13-0 run, punctuated by two shots from Carey, put Georgetown ahead by nine.
However, the Hoyas committed two shot-clock violations late in the half and the Pirates closed on a 7-0 run, fueled by five points from Richmond. His shot over two defenders in the paint with two seconds left cut Seton Hall’s deficit to 27-24 entering halftime.
Seton Hall scored the first four points of the second half, as well, to grab a brief 28-27 lead before the Hoyas snapped their dry spell. The two sides traded 3-pointers until Seton Hall moved ahead 42-39 with 11:46 to play on Tray Jackson’s triple.
Georgetown responded with an 8-1 run aided by Kaiden Rice’s first 3-pointer of the night. Jamir Harris made a trey before Rice responded with another, pushing Georgetown ahead 50-46 with 5:06 left.