Hall tops Wagner, moves to 2-0

USA Today

Sophomores Desi Rodriguez  and Isaiah Whitehead combined for 33 points as the Seton Hall men’s basketball team improved to 2-0 with a 69-59 victory over Wagner on Sunday afternoon inside Historic Walsh Gymnasium.

Whitehead delivered a game-high 18 points, matching his team-high total from the season opening win over Dartmouth on Friday, and handed out three assists while Rodriguez posted 15 points to go with eight boards, three steals and three helpers of his own.

Fellow sophomore Angel Delgado finished with his first double-double of the season finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Ismael Sanogo pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to set a new career high while chipping in six points. Senior Derrick Gordon provided a spark off the bench for the second game in-a-row, recording 11 points and two steals in 27 minutes.

 Seton Hall Head Coach Kevin Willard had high praise for his sophomore star.

“He’s become extremely valuable with the fact that he can defend multiple positions. I thought he did a really good job on Japhet Kadji for the most part. He had 11 rebounds, 4-of-4 from the line, three assists, two blocks and a steal is a pretty good line for a guy that didn’t play last year.”

The Pirates are relying heavily on their star studded sophomore class, and this weekend it paid off as the the all-sophomore starting unit of Whitehead, Khadeen Carrington who had nine on Sunday, Rodriguez, Delgado and Sanogo has posted totals of 59 and 58 points.

Up next, the Hall is off to South Carolina to compete for a championship at the eight-team Gildan Charleston Classic – returning to the site after finishing as the runner-up with wins over VCU and Saint Joseph’s in 2011. The Pirates will take on Long Beach State for the first time in program history in opening round action on Thursday, November 19 with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on ESPNU.