Tyrese Samuel led the way with 19 points and 11 rebounds off the bench, Bryce Aiken added 15 points and Seton Hall opened its season with a thorough performance to beat Fairleigh Dickinson 93-49 Wednesday night in Newark, N.J.
Samuel went 7-for-12 from the floor and added four blocked shots. Myles Cale scored 15 points, Tray Jackson had 14 and Jamir Harris, a transfer from American, contributed 13 in his Seton Hall debut.
Like Samuel, Aiken also came off the bench for a fine night. A former Harvard star who spent most of his first season with the Pirates battling injuries, he went 5-for-8 shooting with three 3-pointers and two steals in 19 minutes.
Fairleigh Dickinson, picked ninth of 10 teams in the Northeast Conference preseason coaches’ poll, shot a forgettable 28.1 percent (18-for-64) from the field. Brandon Rush led the Knights with 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
The Pirates went on runs of 9-0, 9-0 and 11-0 to build a 40-20 halftime lead. Aiken scored 10 in the first half and made both his 3-point attempts.
During the 11-0 run in the final minutes, Cale knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, one of them set up by Jamir Harris’ one-handed shoulder pass from out of the corner.
Seton Hall led 40-17 before Devon Dunn hit a 3-pointer with 12 seconds to go, the Knights’ only three of the game (1-for-15).
The Pirates clamped down on defense as they controlled the rest of the game. Samuel threw down a dunk and drew a foul at 6:01 to push the lead to 76-35 and make the rest of the night a formality.
Seton Hall played without Jared Rhoden, a preseason All-Big East first-team selection, who is nursing an ankle injury suffered in practice. Kadary Richmond, a Syracuse transfer, started but only played 15 minutes, finishing with four points and six rebounds before fouling out.
–Field Level Media
