Seton Hall rallies, tops Creighton
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. » Khadeen Carrington, Desi Rodriguez and Angel Delgado came back for their senior seasons at Seton Hall looking to make a run at the Big East title, and they are not letting anything get in their way.
Down 13 points early in the second half to No. 25 Creighton, no sweat. Down a point late with Delgado heading to the bench with five fouls, no problem.
All they had to do was find a way to win, and that’s exactly what the 23rd-ranked Pirates (122, 1-0) did.
Carrington hit a go-ahead layup with 2:05 to play and Seton Hall held Creighton scoreless for the final 3:32 in posting a 90-84 victory in the Big East Conference opener for both schools on Thursday night.
“We know how good this league is,” said Rodriguez, who scored 14 of 23 points in the second half. “It is arguably the No. 1 conference in the country. This was a statement win. I think we needed this win to get back to playing good basketball. I saw a lot of good basketball in the second half and I was proud of my guys.”
Carrington finished with 18 points, Delgado added 18 points and 14 rebounds and Myles Powell had 17.
“This is a great win,” said Delgado, who walked off the court after fouling out and told his teammates they were not going to lose. “It’s one of the best wins of the whole year because Creighton is a heck of a team. They play hard. They have great players. I think that team is going to go far but, wins like this are the wins that we need. We have to protect our home.”
Martin Krampelj had a careerhigh 23 points and 10 rebounds for Creighton (10-3, 0-1), which had a five-game winning streak snapped. Marcus Foster, who hurt his right knee early, finished with 14, but only two in the second half. Khyri Thomas had 13 for the Bluejays. GONZAGA 81, PACIFIC 48 » Rui Hachimura scored 19 points, Josh Perkins added 16, and No. 20 Gonzaga (11-3, 1-0) beat Pacific (5-9, 0-1), winning its 22nd consecutive West Coast Conference opener.
Zach Norvell Jr. scored 13 points for Gonzaga, which has beaten Pacific 11 consecutive times.
Jahlil Tripp scored nine points to lead Pacific, which has lost five games in a row DELAWARE 97, CORNELL 96 » Ryan Allen scored a career-high 24 points, Archbishop Carroll’s Ryan Daly had 19, including four free throws in the final five seconds of overtime, and Delaware (7-6) outlasted Cornell (5-6) despite two players scoring more than 30 points for the Big Red.
Daly made two free throws for a 95-92 lead and after Matt Morgan made 1 of 2 for Cornell, Daly iced the game with 3 seconds left. Morgan hit a 3 at the buzzer.
Anthony Mosley added points and Eric Carter had 15 the Blue Hens.
Stone Gettings had 39 points for Cornell, the third-highest total in school history — but a record for a junior — and tied for sixth in the NCAA this season. Morgan had 34 points, nine in overtime, 11 rebounds and seven assists. 18 for