N.J. Benson dominated the interior for 21 points and eight rebounds, CJ Gunn added 18 and seven as DePaul completed a season sweep of Seton Hall 69-57 on Wednesday in Newark, N.J.
Benson, who made 10 of 11 shots in his previous game against Creighton, hit 8 of 9 Tuesday, including 6 of 6 in the first half. He powered the Blue Demons’ game-winning 15-0 run in the final five-plus minutes and drove their 13-3 edge in offensive rebounds, leading to 11 second-chance points.
DePaul (14-12, 6-9 Big East) reached six conference wins after totaling seven in the past three years combined. Layden Blocker had 12 points and Brandon Maclin 10 for the Blue Demons.
Adam “Budd” Clark had 19 points and five assists to lead Seton Hall (18-9, 8-8), which suffered two untimely scoring droughts in the second half. AJ Staton-McCray scored 13 and Tajuan Simpkins 12.
Seton Hall scored six straight to take a 52-51 edge at the 5:29 mark. Maclin and Benson answered with three-point plays on the next two possessions to ignite DePaul’s run. Benson and Maclin added open twos, Gunn’s triple made it 64-52 with 2:22 left and Blocker added two foul shots to cap the run.
The Pirates went about four minutes without scoring as the Blue Demons pulled away. They made just four field goals in the final 15:49.
The game didn’t start that way. Seton Hall made five shots in a row early on to establish a 13-7 lead, featuring 3-pointers by Elijah Fisher, Simpkins and Staton-McCray.
Benson got going soon after that, guiding DePaul into the lead. He was on the finishing end of multiple alley-oops and was responsible for the team’s last eight points of the half.
But the Pirates closed on a 7-0 run to turn a five-point deficit into a 35-33 lead. Simpkins forced a steal in the final minute, Clark gathered the ball on the run and he set up Staton-McCray for a go-ahead trey.
Seton Hall made it a six-point game before stalling on offense. Gunn started DePaul’s 9-0 run with a triple and added 3 of 4 free throws. Theo Justin-Pierre’s open 3-pointer put DePaul in front 47-44 before the Pirates ended their scoring drought of nearly five minutes.
–Field Level Media
