Prudential Center—Shaheen Holloway preached about starting game slowly and with low energy, the Pirates came out a little sluggish in the first half but put all together the subdued Wagner in the second.
Dre Davis scored 17 points to lead the Seton Hall Pirates (4-0) in a 72-51 win Wagner (1-3) on Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey in front of announced crowd 8,344.
This matchup put two former Seton Hall point guards against one another in Shaheen Holloway and Donald Copeland.
The Pirates are 86-12 (.878) all-time at the Rock against non-conference opponents and they’ve won 12 of their last 13 games against non-league opponents in Newark.
The game went back and forth with the Seahawks constricting the paint against the Pirates, even though Seton Hall shot 45.2% (14-31) from the hardwood they worked hard for their shots.
With 9:43 left in the first half, after few defensive stops, Dre Davis stole the ball in transition for jam which pushed Seton Hall’s lead to 17-12.
Wagner shot poorly in the first half 29.6% (8-27) from the field and 15.4% (2-13) from beyond the arc but was only down 10 (32-22) going into halftime. Kadary Richmond lead the way with 7 points who finished the game with 11.
In the second half, the Pirates pushed the pace and at the 11:51 mark Seton had commanding lead of 55-34 and never looked back.
Seton Hall score 42 points in the paint and 11 second chance points. Jaden Bediako was a big part of that scoring 11 on the blocks.
Seton Hall head coach Shaheen Holloway abruptly pulled away from Wagner coach Donald Copeland after a intense conversation in the handshake line and the two had to be separated. According to the Holloway, the disagreement was over a Wagner player fouling one of his player with 37 seconds remaining in the game and the outcome well settled.
“I want to apologize,” he told the media. “I apologized to my team for what went on. I have a ton of respect for Sha. I always looked up to him coming up, as a smaller guard. He’s a competitor, I’m a competitor, too.
“That’s probably a little bit of a part of it.”
The coaches, both former Seton Hall players, apologized after the contest.
The Hall improves to 29-6 all-time against Wagner and its won the last 14 games in the series.
Up Next:
The Pirates will be on the road for the first time this season next week when they head to the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego from Nov. 23-24. Seton Hall will open with USC on Thanksgiving Day at 5:30 p.m. EST on FS1.
