Seton Hall overcomes poor start to beat DePaul

Kadary Richmond and Tyrese Samuel each scored 14 points as surging Seton Hall recovered from a sluggish start and rallied for a 69-64 victory over visiting DePaul on Sunday afternoon in Newark, N.J.

The Pirates (15-9, 8-5 Big East) won for the seventh time in eight games and survived missing their first 11 shots from the field and an early 15-2 deficit. Seton Hall shot just 34.6 percent for the game.

Richmond made just 2 of 8 shots but hit nine of Seton Hall's 30 free throws as the Pirates took 45 trips to the foul line. Samuel added seven rebounds before fouling out late in the second half.

K.C. Ndefo added 13 points, six rebounds and three blocks as Seton Hall erased a double-digit hole for the second straight game. Al-Amir Dawes contributed 12 and Tray Jackson chipped in 10 as the Pirates survived the absence of key reserve Dre Davis (sprained right ankle).

Umoja Gibson scored a game-high 21 points but DePaul (9-15, 3-10) dropped its fifth straight game.

The Blue Demons missed 16 of their 21 3-point attempts after entering the game with the Big East's second-best 3-point percentage. Da'Sean Nelson added 13 points but second-leading scorer Javan Johnson was 0-for-9 and held scoreless.

DePaul raced out to a 15-2 lead on a 3-pointer by Philmon Gebrewhit with 11:56 remaining.

A layup by Jackson finally ended Seton Hall's field-goal drought with 10:39 left.

A 3-pointer by Richmond gave Seton Hall its first lead at 18-17 with 5:25 left, and the Pirates ended the half with a 24-7 run for a 26-22 lead by halftime.

Seton Hall started quickly in the second half, taking a 36-26 lead on two free throws by Dawes with 15:59 left. The lead grew to 48-31 on Dawes' 3-pointer with 11:46 left.

DePaul used a 10-3 run to trim the deficit to 51-41 on a basket by Caleb Murphy with 8:06 left.

The Blue Demons pulled to within 62-57 with a 7-0 run that included five points from Gibson, but they could never get closer than five points.