Pirates head into Big East slate with massive win over Maryland

Myles Powell's 27 points led all scorers as Seton Hall continued winning ways with road victory over Maryland. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Kevin Willard believed his decision to schedule Maryland this offseason would be a good road test for his Seton Hall team, one whose non-conference ledger already included meetings with two titans of the sport in Louisville and Kentucky.

Saturday night proved the veteran coach prophetic yet again.

Behind 27 points from Myles Powell and 23 from Myles Cale, Willard was vindicated once more as the Pirates -- two weeks removed from a dramatic takedown of then-No. 9-ranked Kentucky inside Madison Square Garden -- scored a second resume-building victory, in a true road environment no less, defeating Maryland by the final of 78-74 in the last tuneup before the Big East Conference season gets underway.

"It means a lot to the program," Powell said of the significance of the latest feather in the cap for Seton Hall (9-3) as its rebuild from graduating a four-tiered senior class continues to accelerate ahead of schedule. "We never doubted ourselves. Like I've been telling you guys, Coach had faith us, we had faith in ourselves, and we came out here and followed the game plan, and we got the job done."

The Pirates' game plan to which Powell alluded took on a unique wrinkle to start Saturday night, as head coach Kevin Willard altered his starting lineup by including 7-foot-2 Romaro Gill in the opening five, in lieu of Michael Nzei, a strategic ploy to attempt to combat Maryland big man Bruno Fernando.

"The reason I started him was because we got killed so bad on the boards and Sandro (Mamukelashvili) is trying to battle seven-footers," Willard said. "And Fernando's just a different beast. He's just not setting screens, he's down there posting up. I wanted to get off to a good start and really put some pressure on them defensively."

Seton Hall did exactly that, landing a haymaker to the collective jaw of the Terrapins in the opening minutes by opening the game on a 16-5 run and employing a 2-3 zone defense to catch Maryland (9-3) off guard in a first half that was highlighted by offensive struggles from the host team before finally solving the riddle as the opening stanza drew to a close. Riding its two-headed interior monster of Fernando and Jalen Smith to start the engine, the Terps outscored the Pirates by a 29-14 margin over the final fourteen-and-a-half minutes before the intermission, taking a 34-30 lead to the break and threatening to hold serve at an Xfinity Center that grew increasingly raucous as the rally mounted.

But the visitors had other ideas, staying the course and remaining resilient, retaking the lead soon after the resumption of play as Powell and Cale -- the latter of whom continued to thrive in clutch moments -- ignited a 12-6 run to swing the pendulum for the first of many instances down the stretch.

"He's starting to get comfortable," Powell said of his sophomore running mate. "He's taking the strides that I took. He knows that we need him to win, and he came out and did what he needed to do today."

"Myles Cale has been doing everything right on the court," Willard echoed. "He's defending at a high level, he's starting to rebound, and I think he took all good shots tonight. He was patient, he didn't force it, and I think he played great."

Still, Maryland would not go away, opening up a four-point lead following a jumper by Anthony Cowan and a potentially backbreaking three-pointer by Darryl Morsell, who made his return to the rotation after an ankle injury sidelined him recently. Seton Hall would trade threes with the Terps after Cale's triple to retake the lead was answered by Eric Ayala, and following a putback dunk by Smith, Willard called a timeout with a 61-57 deficit staring his team in its face as 5:30 remained in regulation.

The interlude proved to be the motivation the Pirates needed to pick up a second impressive closeout in as many weeks, as it led to a 13-3 run that turned the tide once and for all. Maryland would tie the score at 64 on Smith's layup with 3:36 to play, but a four-point swing from Cale -- on a jumper followed by a strip of Cowan and subsequent transition layup -- effectively turned out the lights as Seton Hall wrapped up its non-league campaign by also wrapping a holiday gift that will surely pay greater dividends as the year goes on.

"He just told us we control our own destiny," Powell said of Willard's message to the team going into Big East play, which begins one week from Saturday when St. John's will bring a 12-0 record and potential Top 25 ranking into the Prudential Center. "We're right where we want to be, like Coach said. We're 9-3, we control our own destiny. We've got a lot of heart, and that's what our program's been about. That's all it's been since I've been here, and we're going to keep the tradition going."