Kadary Richmond collected 20 points, a career-high 13 assists and eight rebounds as host Seton Hall used a quick start to cruise to an 88-70 victory over Xavier on Wednesday night in Newark, N.J.
Richmond notched his fourth double-double of the season as the Pirates (16-9, 9-5 Big East) recovered from Sunday's noncompetitive 80-54 loss at Villanova. Seton Hall also avenged a 20-point loss at Xavier on Dec. 23 and won for the third time in seven games since a five-game winning streak.
Richmond nearly matched coach Shaheen Holloway's school record for assists (14) in a conference game. The guard made 9 of 18 shots as the Pirates shot 54.1 percent and led by double-digits for the final 33:58.
Al-Amir Dawes hit four of Seton Hall's seven 3s and added 18 points. Isaiah Coleman contributed 14 while Jaden Bediako finished with 12 and nine boards to help the Pirates offset the loss of Dre Davis, who did not play in the second half due to a lower-body injury.
Quincy Olivari scored 21 of his 25 in the second half but Xavier (13-12, 7-7) lost its second straight and was unable to rally after nearly overcoming a 20-point deficit Sunday against Creighton. Dayvion McKnight added 11 but Desmond Claude was held to six as the Musketeers shot 44.6 percent from the field.
A basket by Davis opened a 16-2 lead with 13:01 remaining and his 3-pointer pushed the lead to 31-11 with 7:58 remaining. The Pirates opened a 39-17 lead on Bediako's basket with 3:55 left and held a 47-25 advantage by halftime.
Xavier finally made a slight dent by scoring nine straight points and trailed 61-46 after Olivari hit a 3-pointer and a layup on consecutive trips with about 11 1/2 minutes left. Xavier's run resulted in a 30-second timeout that saw Holloway implore his team to play smarter.
Richmond reached his double-double with a jumper that made it 70-52 with 8:36 left and then hit a layup for a 72-56 margin about a minute later. Richmond then converted a 3-point play to make it 75-58 with 5:55 left to finish it off.
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