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SOUTH ORANGE – The last time Seton Hall basketball played in Walsh Gym, in March, the place rocked for two hours as the Pirates rolled into the NIT semifinals.
On Saturday, the crowd that filled the old bandbox left in stunned silence.
A comedy of errors in the closing seconds led to a 57-56 loss on buzzer-beating floater by Fordham’s Jackie Johnson.
It marked the Hall’s first defeat in a guarantee game – where the opponent is taking a paycheck – since 2013 against Saint Peter’s. And Seton Hall’s last regular season loss to a non-conference opponent inside Walsh actually came against Fordham, 65-60, on Dec. 16, 1989 – right after the Final Four appearance.
The Pirates blew a four-point lead in the final 20 seconds after Chaunce Jenkins missed the back end of two free throws, Prince Aligbe fouled a 3-point shooter (and Fordham made all three shots) and Dylan Addae-Wusu fumbled an open-court pass from Aligbe after the Pirates had beaten Fordham’s press.
On the final sequence, Johnson was well guarded but hit a tough shot on the move. It’s worth noting that Johnson was part of the UNLV team the Hall pummeled in last year’s NIT quarterfinal in Walsh.
Fordham (1-1), which opened the season with a 92-60 loss at St. John’s, last defeated a Big East opponent in 2015.
Seton Hall (1-1) will play Hofstra on Long Island Wednesday.
The Big East has now lost three guarantee games, with Villanova stunned by Columbia and Butler going down to Austin Peay. The league’s metrics will be hammered as a result.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
1. Offensive woes continue
It was always going to be a project, putting together 10 new players with no apparent stars and just two returnees of note. But the struggle of Providence transfer Garwey Dual to take the reins at point guard and difficulty of Ohio State transfer Scotty Middleton to function offensively has exacerbated the issue.
And having to play Evansville transfer Yacine Toumi, a natura stretch four, at center for stretches caused the 6-foot-10 postgrad to…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/seton-hall-basketball-drops-stunner-191600444.html
Author : App.com | Asbury Park Press
Publish date : 2024-11-09 19:16:00
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