UPSET ALERT: PIRATES CLINCH! Seton Hall dominates No. 5 Xavier, Show They Belong

The Seton Hall University men’s basketball team dominated the No. 5 Xavier Musketeers 90-81 on Sunday afternoon in front of a sold out Prudential Center crowd in Newark, NJ.

The victory clinches their first NCAA Tournament birth since 2006.

The dominating win was the Pirates first against a Top-5 opponent since 2004 when the Pirates defeated No. 4 Pittsburgh. The win on Sunday snaps a streak of 15 straight losses against Top-5 opponents. The Pirates improve 11-5 in BIG EAST play and 21-7 overall on the season.

The Pirates were led by sophomore Desi Rodriguez who finished with a career high 27 point and 12 rebound double-double and Angel Delgado who had 17 points and eight rebounds.

Sophomore point guard and projected ALL BIG EAST First-Teamer Isaiah Whitehead contributed 22 points including an appropriate Steph Curry three-pointer from two steps inside the half court line.

The victory was the Pirates eighth in their last nine games, and is easily their biggest win since defeating No. 6 Villanova a year ago.

The Pirates started the game on a 9-0 run and quite frankly never looked back finishing the first half up 45-26, and never trailing in the game.

With just about a minute to go in the game and the Pirates up by double figures, over the speakers in the sold out Rock played Journeys “Don’t Stop Believin,” and appropriately so. The Pirates and their fans have not stopped believing for 10 years and will finally be dancing again in March.