NEWARK, N.J. -- After a trying week for his program off the court -- the indefinite suspension of a senior starter, the off-again, on-again status of a valuable freshman -- Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard had one thing to point out after his No. 23 Pirates defeated visiting Manhattan 74-62 on Saturday afternoon at Prudential Center.

"We went 2-0 right?" he said, relegating his judgment to strictly on-court issues.

But even Saturday's game was not without incident, as the teams were involved in a skirmish late in the first half that resulted in the ejection of Seton Hall's Myles Powell and Manhattan's Rich Williams.

If anything, the dust-up gave Willard some energy.

He needed some, after answering myriad questions about the suspension of Ismael Sanogo for an undisclosed violation of team and university rules and about the brief exit of Jordan Walker. The freshman told Willard he planned to leave the team after playing zero minutes in a 71-65 loss at Rutgers on Dec. 16, only to return to the team after four hours and a long discussion with Willard.

"I'm not a happy camper," Willard said. "When you put time, effort, energy and you hope you're guiding guys the right way, and when it goes off the rails, it's like getting stabbed in the heart, to be honest with you."

Angel Delgado did his best to make his head coach forget about the team's off-court woes.

Delgado had his NCAA-leading 59th career double-double, leading all five Seton Hall starters scoring in double-figures with 15 points and 18 rebounds. Khadeen Carrington had 15 points for the Pirates, while Powell and Desi Rodriguez each added 13 points. Michael Nzei scored 10.

"Angel has been more consistent than any big man in the country," Willard said. "He's had 21 rebounds, 18 rebounds. He'd much rather play against a team that's gonna whack him, so he can whack them back."

Zane Waterman had 18 points for Manhattan and Calvin Crawford added 10 points.

Seton Hall led by 20 or more points for much of the second half before the Jaspers fought back late to make the final margin respectable.

"I've watched every single game they've played, and I don't know what weakness they have," Manhattan coach Steve Masiello said. "They don't have a weakness. That's a team that's very, very dangerous come March."

The Pirates took control early, building a comfortable lead after forcing five early turnovers, despite the absence of Sanogo, one of their top defenders.

Even with the forced turnovers, the Pirates allowed the Jaspers to open the game with 8 of 9 shooting, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range. Seton Hall then clamped down for the next 12 minutes, increasing its lead to double-digits on a Powell slam dunk at the 9:30 mark. During a 28-10 run to close the half, the Pirates held Manhattan to 5 of 19 shooting.

With 40.2 seconds left in the first half, Powell and Williams -- Manhattan's leading scorer -- were ejected after receiving flagrant-2 fouls following an on-court skirmish. Delgado and Waterman were assessed technical fouls.

"How many New York City kids did you have on that court?" Masiello said. "It's kids playing for pride, for bragging rights. When you have competitors competing, sometimes things like that happen."

NOTES: Seton Hall freshman G Jordan Walker, who initially told coach Kevin Willard that he planned to leave after playing zero minutes in a 71-65 loss at Rutgers on Dec. 16 but returned to the team after talking with Willard, got his first playing time since Nov. 12. Walker played 16 minutes, scoring two points. ... With senior F Ismael Sanogo suspended indefinitely for Seton Hall, junior F Michael Nzei moved into the starting lineup. ... Manhattan has a weeklong break before opening up Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play against Fairfield on Dec. 30. ... Seton Hall opens up Big East play on Dec. 28, hosting Creighton.