Five in Double Figures Lead DePaul Over Seton Hall

Sunday, January 6

Wintrust Arena

Noon CT

DePaul University

9-5

Seton Hall

11-4

Seton Hall

DePaul

Five in Double Figures Lead DePaul Over Seton Hall

1/6/2019 3:24:00 PM | MEN'S BASKETBALL

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes

Blue Demons improve to 9-2 at Wintrust Arena this season

CHICAGO – In a game that went down to the buzzer, the Blue Demons sent the Wintrust Arena crowd home happy as DePaul held on to win a wild 75-74 contest over the Seton Hall Pirates. The Pirates had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but stifling defense from Jaylen Butz prevented a clean look as Max Strus gobbled up the miss as the buzzer sounded.

For the Blue Demons (9-5, 1-2 BIG EAST), Strus led all scorers with 21 points, five assists and four rebounds while Paul Reed and Butz each added 12 points and nine rebounds. Devin Gage contributed 11 points and six assists, and Femi Olujobi finished with 10 points and three rebounds.

DePaul shot .545 (30-50) from the field and posted 36 points in the paint. The Blue Demons also outrebounded Seton Hall, 33-32, while assisting 20-of-30 made field goals.

The Blue Demons would tie the score at 10-10 before a pair of Strus three pointers put the host in front 18-15. Out of a timeout, Reed slammed home the basketball with two hands in transition and then tipped a rebound to himself before firing a beautiful full-court pass to hit Strus in stride for a breakaway dunk to push the advantage to 22-15. With 7:31 left in the half, the Blue Demon run was at 15-0 and the lead was up to 15 at 30-15.

Over the final seven minutes of the half the Pirates (11-4, 2-1 BIG EAST) would chip away at the DePaul lead to go into the intermission trailing the Blue Demons by a score of 38-33.

Out of the break the Pirates scored the first four points to pull within one, but DePaul would quickly right the ship. A right-handed dunk from Gage followed by a three-pointer from Strus gave the Blue Demons five quick points and a 47-39 advantage with 15:38 to go in the game. Less than a minute later, Strus completed a rare four-point play before Jaylen Butz made a short jump shot to push the DePaul advantage back up to 11.

Over the next six minutes the Pirates would pull back to within three, but DePaul had an answer, using two Gage jump shots, a Butz layup and an emphatic dunk in transition from Olujobi, to push the lead back to nine, 66-57, with 7:18 to go in the game. The Blue Demons could not quite shake Seton Hall as the visitor cut the deficit to four with 3:39 left.

With just over a minute left on the clock, the Blue Demons held a one-point advantage at 75-74 setting up one final defensive stand. The Pirates had the ball with a chance to win, with eight seconds left, but the defense from Butz prevented Seton Hall from getting a good final look as the Blue Demons secured their first win of BIG EAST play this season.

Myles Powell led Seton Hall with 16 points, but was swarmed throughout the afternoon by four different DePaul players making every attempt difficult for the BIG EAST's second-leading scorer. Taurean Thompson added 15 points and five rebounds off the bench for the Pirates.

The Blue Demons return to action on Saturday as they travel to St. John's for a 6 p.m. ET tip with the Red Storm. The game can be seen on the CBS Sports Network and heard in Chicago on WIND (560 AM).