Newark, NJ—-Najai Hines delivered the decisive moment in the closing second, tipping in the winning basket as Seton Hall erased a 16-point deficit and edged Creighton, 56–54, on Sunday afternoon at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., before a crowd of 8,532.
Seton Hall trailed for nearly the entire game and still found itself behind late after Creighton successfully challenged a possession call with 57 seconds remaining. Nik Graves went to the line but missed the second of two free throws, opening the door for the Pirates. Josh Rivera capitalized moments later, throwing down a dunk that cut Creighton’s lead to 54–53 with 22 seconds to play.
The Pirates struggled mightily in the opening half, heading into the locker room down 27–18 after shooting just 26.9 percent from the floor and 16.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Seton Hall briefly showed life to open the second half, scoring the first five points to pull within four, but Creighton responded with authority. A 14–2 Bluejay surge pushed the margin to 41–25, with Swartz accounting for eight of those points.
Momentum shifted midway through the half when Seton Hall’s defense tightened. The Pirates forced four turnovers in a span of just over two minutes, igniting a 13–0 run that brought the crowd to its feet and pulled the home team within 45–43. Creighton went more than eight minutes without a field goal before Dix found Green for a layup with 5:58 remaining in the contest.
Despite repeated pushes by Seton Hall—closing within two points at 45–43, 47–45, 49–47 and 51–49—Creighton repeatedly answered. Graves knocked down two free throws with 2:21 left to give the Bluejays a 53–49 cushion, but Hines countered with a pair of foul shots to make it 53–51 with 1:42 remaining.
After several scoreless possessions, Graves returned to the line with 36.1 seconds left for a one-and-one, converting the first to extend Creighton’s lead to 54–51. Seton Hall again responded, as Rivera slammed home another dunk with 22.6 seconds remaining to pull the Pirates within one.
Defensive pressure proved decisive in the final moments. Seton Hall forced tie-ups at 13.4 and 10.8 seconds to regain possession and set up one final chance. Al-Amir Clark’s contested jumper rolled off the rim, but Hines was in position to secure the rebound and put it back with 1.3 seconds left. He was fouled on the play and calmly converted the free throw to complete the three-point play.
Creighton had one last opportunity, inbounding from midcourt with one second remaining, but Seton Hall intercepted the pass to seal the game.
Swartz paced Creighton with 16 points, while Green added 13 and Dix recorded a double-double with 12 points, 10 boards, and six assists. The Bluejays shot 34.5 percent overall and struggled from long range, going 6-for-27 from downtown, though they held a 41–34 edge on the glass.
Elijah Fisher led Seton Hall with 10 points. The Pirates finished the game shooting 35.8 percent from the field and connected on just 2 of 7 attempts from beyond the arc.
Creighton returns to BIG EAST play on Wednesday night, traveling to Villanova for a 6:30 p.m. Central tipoff and Seton Hall will travel to take on Georgetown, January 10th at 6:00 p.m.
