Iowa staves off Seton Hall for third place in San Diego tourney

Payton Sandfort netted 22 points to lead four scorers in double figures as Iowa defeated Seton Hall 85-72 on Friday night in the third-place game of the Rady Children's Invitational in San Diego.

Sandfort added nine rebounds for the Hawkeyes (4-2), who also got 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting from Ben Krikke. Tony Perkins chipped in with 14 points and Patrick McCaffery tallied 10 as Iowa connected on 56.4 percent of its shots.

Dre Davis finished with 18 points and seven boards for the Pirates (4-2), who have dropped back-to-back contests following a season-opening four-game winning streak. Al-Amir Dawes contributed 14 points, while Dylan Addae-Wusu and Jaden Bediako had 11 apiece. Bediako also had a game-high 11 rebounds.

Seton Hall shot just 36 percent from the floor and 29.6 percent from 3-point range.

Sandfort's triple with 18:18 left in the game gave Iowa a 14-point cushion, but the Pirates then mounted a rally.

Dawes sandwiched a pair of treys around Kadary Richmond's jumper to headline a 10-burst that made it 53-49.

But that was the closest the Hawkeyes would let Seton Hall get, and they found themselves leading by 10 when Krikke drove to the bucket for a layup with 3:56 remaining.

Perkins and Sandfort each converted four free throws in the final 2:09 to help seal the victory.

After trailing by 18 with 3:47 remaining until halftime, Seton Hall chipped away at its deficit and went into the break trailing 44-33. Addae-Wusu sank a pair of threes in the final 51 seconds of the period, including one from way downtown as the buzzer sounded.

Perkins scored eight points and Krikke had seven during a game-opening 15-4 run for the Hawkeyes.

Seton Hall pulled within seven for the second time when Dawes knocked down a 3-pointer with 13:12 left in the first half, but Iowa responded by scoring 14 of the game's next 19 points to open up a commanding 16-point lead.

—Field Level Media