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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Seton Hall 70, Butler 64
When: 2:30 PM ET, Saturday, March 4, 2017
Where: Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Officials: # James Breeding, # Jeff Clark, # Brent Hampton
Attendance: 9100

INDIANAPOLIS -- Seton Hall found itself in a 10-point hole at Butler with seven-plus minutes to go.

During a subsequent timeout, Pirates coach Kevin Willard said he told his players to calm down and just get a few stops. Junior guard Khadeen Carrington also provided motivation.

"I told the guys the game is not over, there is a lot of time," said Carrington, who scored 17 points. "We've been in that situation a lot of times so it's really nothing new. We just tried to stay positive and we came out with a W."

Seton Hall used a 9-0 run to get right back in it en route to a 70-64 upset of No. 13 Butler in Big East Conference game on Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Desi Rodriguez scored 21 points and Angel Delgado added 20 as the Pirates (20-10, 10-8 Big East) improved their chances for an NCAA Tournament bid. They have won seven of their last nine games.

"I don't rank wins, but obviously Butler is a tremendous basketball team," Willard said. "With the tradition of Hinkle, winning here is very special. It's a big win because it gets us to 10-8 and it's a road win."

Kelan Martin's 3-pointer gave the Bulldogs (23-7, 12-6) a 57-47 lead with 7:03 to go. The 9-0 run cut the deficit to 57-56. Following two free throws by Butler's Kamar Baldwin, Seton Hall's Myles Powell sank a 3-pointer to it at 59-59.

After Carrington's layup put the Pirates ahead for good at 65-64 with 1:26 to go, Butler's Andrew Chrabascz missed a 3-pointer. Powell hit a 3-pointer to make it 68-64 with 37 seconds remaining. Powell finished with eight points, hitting 2 of 7 3-pointers.

"Myles has been struggling but everyone on the bench has told him, 'Little man, you got to keep firing. It's going to go in,'" Willard said. "Being a freshman in this league is not easy. You go through ups and downs, probably more downs than ups."

Butler coach Chris Holtmann said his team settled for too much offensively during Seton Hall's comeback.

"I could have done a better job of managing the last seven minutes. That's my fault," Holtmann said.

Delgado, who led the nation with 13.0 rebounding average entering the game, added 16 rebounds as the Pirates had a 35-24 rebounding advantage.

"That was huge," Willard said. "(Tyler) Wideman has given Delgado trouble. (Wideman) is a heck of a player and he has a lower center of gravity on Angel so that's tough. So him playing only 23 minutes helped Angel a little bit. (Nate) Fowler is a talented player, but he is not as physical as Wideman."

Holtmann said the rebounding edge was a key factor.

"Give Seton Hall a lot of credit, I thought they played really well," Holtmann said. "They got to more loose balls than us. They made some big threes. It's disappointing because it's on Senior Day. We all wanted to win this one for the fans. Certainly I wanted to win it for the seniors. We'll learn from it and move on.

Martin led the Bulldogs with 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting

Avery Woodson, a graduate transfer from Memphis, scored all 13 of his points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first half as Butler led 38-35.

Rodriguez scored 15 points in the opening half for Seton Hall and the Pirates hit 14 of 25 shots for 56 percent in the first half, while the Bulldogs made 12 of 23 for 52.2 percent. For the game, Butler made 21 of 52 (40.4 percent) while Seton Hall was 25 of 51 (49 percent).

Seton Hall scored the game's first eight points. With the Pirates leading 14-7, Butler went on a 15-0 run to take a 22-14 lead with 8:43 left in the first half.

The Pirates regained the lead at 35-31 before the Bulldogs scored the final seven points of the half.

NOTES: This was the final home game for six Butler seniors, including forward Andrew Chrabascz, who started his 100th game Saturday. He has played in 124 games for the Bulldogs. ... The Bulldogs are the No. 2 seed in the Big East tournament and will play the winner of No. 7 seed Xavier vs. No. 10 DePaul at 7 p.m. on Thursday night in New York. ... Seton Hall freshman guard Eron Gordon is a graduate of Indianapolis Cathedral High School. Gordon was scoreless in four minutes. His older brother, Eric, plays for the Houston Rockets. ... Butler is 14-3 at Hinkle Fieldhouse this season. The Bulldogs split the two-game series, winning 61-54 at Seton Hall on Jan. 25.
Top Game Performances
 
Seton Hall   Butler
Desi Rodriguez 21 Scoring Kelan Martin 19
Angel Delgado 4 Assists Andrew Chrabascz 5
Angel Delgado 16 Rebounds Kelan Martin 6
Desi Rodriguez 6 Free Throws Made Kethan Savage 5
Angel Delgado 1 Steals Kethan Savage 2
Desi Rodriguez 2 Blocks Kelan Martin 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Seton Hall 70 49.0 7-18 13-16 10 29 3 4 14
Butler 64 40.4 6-21 16-20 10 22 2 7 8