NEW YORK -- Some impressive defense and a near-perfect game from the bench got Seton Hall its second straight Big East win.
Sixth man Andre Sweet scored 15 points and the Pirates held St. John's star Daryll Hill to his worst game of the season in a 62-55 victory Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
"That is who we are. When we defend like we did tonight I think it really helps us," Seton Hall coach Louis Orr said. "I thought our guys executed the game plan. They did a real good job of guarding Daryll Hill. I thought that was a big key."
Sweet led the bench, which outscored their counterparts 30-2.
"I'm just looking to play. I only have nine or 10 games left in my career," said the senior who transferred from Duke. "I was struggling and I didn't want to go out that way."
The Pirates (10-7, 2-4 Big East) had lost four of their last five games.
Hill, the 6-foot sophomore who leads the Big East in scoring with a 20.9 average, was held below 10 points for the first time in 25 games. He finished with six points on 3-for-15 shooting as Seton Hall mixed a tough man-to-man defense with a 2-3 zone.
"I didn't think I played with any energy today," Hill said. "I'm trying to be patient within our offense."
The Pirates played mostly man-to-man defense in the first half with 6-5 John Allen on Hill. In the second half they went to the zone that was just as effective.
"John Allen is our stopper," Sweet said. "We didn't want to give them anything easy. We didn't shoot the ball well, but we didn't let our offense dictate our defense."
Kelly Whitney added 10 points for the Pirates and J.R. Morris had 15 rebounds.
Lamont Hamilton had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Red Storm (7-10, 1-6), who have lost six of seven. Their last two wins were over ranked teams (North Carolina State and Pittsburgh) but they shot just 18-for-54 from the field, including 4-for-18 from 3-point range, and committed 19 turnovers, two off their season high.
"We were really careless with the ball today," first-year St. John's coach Norm Roberts said. "We have to shoot the ball better against the zone. We competed at times but I was probably disappointed we didn't put out the effort we had been."
Sweet made two free throws with 3:20 left to give Seton Hall a 55-47 lead. A 3-pointer by Cedric Jackson with 35 seconds left pulled the Red Storm to 58-54, but Donald Copeland went 4-for-4 from the free throw line over the final 26 seconds to seal the win.
Sweet, who also had five assists, is fourth on Seton Hall in scoring at 9.5 points per game.
"It was definitely a team win," Orr said, "and a very good win for us."
Hill had scored at least 10 points in every game this season and had been at 20 or more for the last six straight.
"We know you're not going to shut down Daryll Hill," Sweet said. "But there was no way he was going to get anything easy."
Roberts knows it will only get tougher on Hill as the Big East season continues.
"We have to do a better job of screening for Daryll and get him open," Roberts said. "He has to do a better job of using those screens."
