Seton Hall Pirates vs Xavier Musketeers Box Score on Feb 26, 2022

Jared Rhoden scored a career-high 30 points and Tray Jackson added 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting, including five 3-pointers, as Seton Hall shot its way to an 82-66 win over host Xavier on Saturday afternoon at Cincinnati.

Kadary Richmond added 12 points and seven assists for Seton Hall (18-9, 9-8 Big East), which earned its sixth win in eight games and kept pace in the conference, remaining in sixth place.

Despite Colby Jones making his first eight shots and finishing with 20 points, Xavier (17-11, 7-10) dropped its fourth straight and its sixth in the last seven games. Zach Freemantle added 11 points and Adam Kunkel had 10.

Both teams had encouraging shooting performances, with the Pirates finishing 52.7 percent from the field (29 of 55) and the Musketeers hitting for 46 percent (23 of 50). But Xavier lost 14 turnovers and went just 13 of 23 from the free-throw line.

The Musketeers' best hope came on a quick 6-0 run that cut the deficit to 55-49 with 12:37 left. But Seton Hall's Tyrese Samuel responded with a layup and Jamir Harris got a pull-up jumper to go to get lead back up to 59-49.

The Pirates put it out of reach with a late 10-0 run powered by six points from Rhoden. Twelve of Rhoden's points came on free throws.

Rhoden made nine of Seton Hall's first 18 points to put the Pirates ahead 18-12 early. Xavier responded with a 7-0 sprint, but it didn't hold the lead for long as Samuel's dunk put Seton Hall back in front 20-19 with 9:31 in the half.

Jones shot 6 of 6 in the first half, scoring from all over the floor for Xavier. He was responsible for 10 straight Xavier points on a 3-pointer, a layup, a shot from the paint and a three-point play to keep it close.

But Seton Hall led 39-31 at halftime despite Jones' 15 first-half points. Rhoden had 14 points at intermission and Jackson knocked down his third 3-pointer with 61 seconds left to get to 11 points.

--Field Level Media