Seton Hall falls to DePaul after crushing block at buzzer
The Garden fell still for several seconds, the crowd waiting for an official ruling. So loud only moments before, the building was quiet.
Seton Hall’s Femi Odukale had just gone the length of the court, and had his shot rejected at the buzzer by DePaul’s Nick Ongenda. But the call on the floor was goaltending, which would’ve meant a Seton Hall victory.
Upon review, however, it was called a clean block, and 10th-seeded DePaul had a wild 66-65 Big East Tournament win to celebrate.
“I knew it was a block for real,” Ongenda said aftet the Blue Demons snapped a 12-game losing streak. “I didn’t really have to wait for the review.”
Seton Hall (17-15), the seventh seed, was going home after blowing a nine-point second-half lead and a five-point edge in the final minute. There will be no March magic for Shaheen Holloway in his first season as Seton Hall’s coach a year after he led Saint Peter’s on a magical Elite Eight run in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
“It sucks,” Holloway said. “It sucks for the seniors, sucks for the guys who don’t have any eligibility left.”
Umoja Gibson’s three free throws with 3.9 seconds left were the game-winners, after a Seton Hall turnover led to a scramble and KC Ndefo fouled Gibson on a 3-point attempt. The Pirates didn’t do the little things. They missed seven of 18 free throws and committed 14 turnovers, two in the final 33 seconds.
“And we got a veteran ball team,” Holloway said. “This is unacceptable for me because we work on this all the time.”
Tyrese Samuel led the Pirates, who were without star point guard Kadary Richmond (back), with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Ndefo added 14 points and eight rebounds. JaJuan Johnson had 19 for the Blue Demons (10-22), who won for the first time since Jan. 18.
Seton Hall’s season is likely to continue with an NIT bid, probably on the road. DePaul will meet No. 2 seed Xavier in the quarterfinals Thursday at 7 p.m.
It was a disjointed game from the Pirates, who played an ugly opening 20 minutes. They were sluggish and not crisp, committing nine turnovers and getting outrebounded by three. That allowed DePaul to go 6-for-10 on 3-point attempts in the first half and build a four-point edge at the break.
The Pirates started the second half much better and put together an 18-3 run to go up 46-37 after Dre Davis’ basket with 10:41 to go. Seton Hall, though, couldn’t put DePaul away and will now have to hope for that NIT invite.
That clearly wasn’t the result Holloway was hoping for from his short-handed team, but he tried to take positives from the game.
“Guys played [hard] and they gave me everything they had,” he said. “And I’m proud of my guys. They fought to the very end. That’s all you can ask for.”
