By Brandon Walker for Urban Media Today
Washington, DC—Adam “Budd” Clark scored a game-high 22 points as Seton Hall came back from an 11-point second-half deficit to score a massive win over Georgetown by the score of 76-67 on Saturday evening at the Capital One Arena.
Seton Hall (14-2, 4-1 Big East) went on the board first with a basket by AJ Staton-McCray, with Georgetown (9-7, 1-4 Big East) answering with a three-pointer by Isaiah Abraham. The flow went back and forth, with Georgetown leading Seton Hall 9-8 at the first media timeout. Georgetown gathered some momentum with a breakaway dunk from the recently returning Vince Iwuchukwu and followed that up with a put-back layup as the Hoyas led 17-13 at the Under-12 timeout.
The game slowed down as neither team could get anything going until Jalen Fort stole the ball and dunked for a breakaway, giving Georgetown a 19-15 lead at the under-8 timeout. Both teams continued to struggle to score, but Seton Hall tried to rally with a couple of baskets; one was an outback by Jacob Dar as the defensive struggle rolled on into the end of the first half, which ended in a 29-all tie.
Georgetown had the steals advantage, 6 to 4, while Seton Hall outrebounded Georgetown 22-18 in the first half.
Staton McCray started the spring out in the second half with a 15-foot jumper. After a back-and-forth, Georgetown went back up by one with a three-pointer by Abraham. Georgetown had baskets by KJ Lewis and Julius Halaifonoa to spark a run to push its advantage to eight at the first media timeout of the half at 44-36. Malik Mack hit a three-pointer to stretch its lead to 11, but then Tajuan Simpkins sparked an 8-0 Seton Hall runs to cut the lead to three at the Under-12 timeout.
Georgetown maintained a slim lead heading into the next media timeout as both teams earned their way into the bonus until Simpkins recorded a three-point play to put the Pirates up by two at 59-57. Georgetown continued to struggle from the field as it missed eight consecutive field goals, while Adam Clark’s playmaking and clutch basket stretched the Seton Hall lead to eight, and it maintained its advantage for good with a 13-0 run.
The main difference in the game is that Seton Hall scored 42 bench points to 16 for Georgetown. Another factor was that Seton Hall shot 42% compared to Georgetown’s 30%.
Simpkins added 17 points for Seton Hall, and Trey Parker scored 12 points off the bench. Mack led the Hoyas with 14 points, while Abraham scored 13 points. Iwuchukwu, Lewis, and Caleb Williams each scored 10 points for the Hoyas.
Seton Hall will travel to host Connecticut on Tuesday, while Georgetown will travel to Creighton, also on Tuesday.
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