Big games from Powell and Delgado leads Seton Hall past DePaul

Heading into this afternoon’s matchup, the Seton Hall Pirates needed a win. A two game losing streak put them at 4-3 in conference play and the pressure was on. It wasn’t an easy victory against the DePaul Blue Demons but thanks to big games from Myles Powell (21 points) and a double double from Angel Delgado, they were able to get past the Blue Demons, 86-70.

Like their last home game against Butler, it was a very rough start offensively for DePaul. They didn’t score a basket for the first three minutes of the game, a drought which was snapped by a jumper from Brandon Cyrus. Seton Hall, however, was able to get into a rhythm early and jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead. For the first 8 minutes of the game, Seton Hall controlled the rhythm of the game and suffocated the Blue Demon offense. The Pirates were active and made life tough for the Blue Demons to even move the ball around. But eventually the Blue Demons woke up and began to get back in the game. DePaul reduced a 17-8 deficit into a 19-14 lead for Seton Hall in a matter of minutes. It was a frantic run for the Blue Demons which was aided by some sloppy turnovers from the Pirates. The run was capped off by a breakaway dunk by Marin Maric and suddenly with around 10 minutes left in the half, it was a close game again. Seton Hall had other ideas, going on a 8-0 run in the span of 3 and a half minutes. It bumped the lead back up to around double digits. With Seton Hall getting more and more into a rhythm, you could feel that DePaul was losing the plot and letting the game slip away from them. The mistakes compounded as Seton Hall rattled off another run in the final minutes of the half. Going on a 12-2 run to end the half, things were looking great for Seton Hall as they held a 46-31 lead.

It was the Myles Powell show in the first half as he scored 11 points in the first half. Angel Delgado nearly had a double-double in the first half, scoring 8 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. For DePaul it was Justin Roberts who led them in scoring at the half with 8 points and going perfect from the field. No Blue Demon scored in double digits.

DePaul didn’t have a big scoring drought to begin the second half. It started well with a baseline dunk from Tre’Darius McCallum. It was a fantastic start from the forward as he had two dunks and a 3 in quick succession. Behind that spurt, DePaul was able to cut the lead to single digits. But then like clockwork, Seton Hall made a run to suck the life out of the game. The Pirates quickly jumped the lead back to a comfortable standing. Or that’s what it seemed like. DePaul proceeded to go on a 9-0 run and it cut the lead down to 8. It brought the crowd back into it as Wintrust Arena went into a frenzy. Powell was able to quiet the crowd with a clutch three but DePaul kept battling back. It was a monster performance from the guard as he helped Seton Hall restore order. He made a clutch three and then led a good fast break, which resulted in a lay up for Desi Rodriguez. Behind the play of Powell, Seton Hall were able to maintain a double digit lead with 3:30 left in the game. The spurt to push it back to single digits was the dagger in the game. From then on, Seton Hall comfortably saw out the victory, capping it off with a slam from Ismael Sanogo and won 86-70.