March 12, 2026; New York, New York, USA; Seton Hall Pirates guard Adam Clark (0) is stopped by the Creighton Blue Jays defense in the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Image Adam “Budd” Clark had 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists and Jacob Dar had a huge second half to lead fourth-seeded Seton Hall to a 72-61 victory over fifth-seeded Creighton in the Big East tournament quarterfinals on Thursday in New York.
Dar, a lightly used reserve player who averaged 2.4 points per game, did not play in the first half but exploded for a season-high 16 points and 5 rebounds in 15 minutes of the second half. Dar shot 5-for-6 from the field with two of Seton Hall’s four 3-pointers.
The Pirates (21-11) have kept their slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive but must face top-seeded St. John’s in their first semifinal game Friday.
Creighton (15-17) finished below .500 for the first time since 2014-15 and will miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
Josh Dix led all scorers with 22 points, Nik Graves had 15 points and five assists before fouling out, and Austin Swartz added 10 points for the Bluejays, who shot 40.7 percent to 33.3 percent.
Seton Hall was up 4 with 14:02 left when Dar converted a 3-point play. It started the game 9-0 Pirates and Dar’s 3 from the left corner was blocked.
Dix stopped that run with a layup at 11:12, but the Pirates’ defense stymied the Bluejays, not allowing a field goal for the next 5:53. Dar headed to the offensive boards and attempted a putback for a 54-47 lead within seven minutes.
Creighton got to the line before Dix ended the field goal drought with a triple to cut it to 54-52. After Clark got a floater, Dar knocked down his second 3-pointer to restore the seven-point advantage.
Seton Hall increased its lead to 66-56 when Dar threw down a basic alley-oop dunk.
In a back-and-forth first half, Tajuan Simpkins and Mike Williams III hit 3-pointers to put Seton Hall up 15-10, but Swartz and Graves connected on treys for an 18-17 Creighton advantage less than three minutes later.
Seton Hall responded with a 10-0 run to keep the Bluejays off the scoreboard for the next 3:42 and held them without a field goal for 5:21. Clark got two buckets for Seton Hall’s largest lead, 31-21, before closing the halftime gap at 33-26.
Creighton scored 10 of its 12 points in the second half to take the lead again on Graves’ two free throws at 17:37. Three minutes later the lead grew to 42-38 when Fedor Zugic scored before Dar’s heroics.
–Field level media
