With three minutes left in last night’s game, Seton Hall looked like a team ready for a slump-busting statement win, but in those final, fateful minutes they squandered a six-point lead and suffered an 80-75 loss to No. 23 Georgetown at Prudential Center.
Leading 73-67 with 3:06 left on a three-point play by Jeff Robinson, the Pirates saw big man Herb Pope foul out. They also watched star swingman Jeremy Hazell show the rust he still is shaking off from his two-month layoff, and saw the Hoyas close the game with a an impressive 13-2 run.
Despite going on a 19-2 run that put them up 52-45, the Pirates (8-11, 2-5 Big East) have lost five of six, but were convinced they would have won last night if their two biggest stars were on the floor at the end of the game and were at a 100 percent.
“Definitely,” said Hazell, who had 15 points in his third game back following a wrist injury and a Christmas Day gunshot wound under his arm. “I get open looks. I’m just not knocking them down. That’s all on me right now.
“[The injury is not an excuse] at all,” he said. “This is what I live for. I play basketball. I’ve just got to get into a rhythm. Right now I’m just not hitting shots I normally make. That’s just all on me, right now. I’ve got to put the ball in the basket. . . . I’m just trying to fit into the flow. I’m not trying to be the hero. I’m just trying to be Robin and let them Batman.”
But Georgetown (14-5, 3-4) had Superman, in the form of Austin Freeman. The forward had a game-high 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting, getting open almost at will against the Pirates defense.
The Hall led 73-69 when Pope (16 points, nine rebounds) fouled out with 2:11 left. Chris Wright (17 points) hit a foul shot to put the Hoyas up 74-73 with 53 seconds left, and after Pirates reserve Eniel Polynice got the surprising clutch shot and missed, Freeman added two more with 27 seconds remaining.
Pirates point guard Jordan Theodore (17 points, six assists, no turnovers) hit a jumper from the left corner with nine seconds left that he thought was a 3 but was inside the arc.
When asked if he thought Theodore’s shot was a 3, coach Kevin Willard referenced tempestuous ex-Pirate coach Bobby Gonzalez and said “I knew [it wasn’t]. I would’ve acted like my predecessor if I thought it was a 3.”
Georgetown closed it out with four straight Wright free throws. The Pirates shot 1-of-7 in that final Hoyas run, with Hazell taking just one shot.
“He hasn’t touched a ball since Nov. 18. He’s practiced twice,” Willard said. “He’s got to struggle. People are going to have to understand. For people to expect him to come back and be Superman is a little comic bookish.”
Pope said a tough loss possibly could help build their team’s character.
“You learn the most from a loss,” he said. “It’s easy to be happy when you’re winning. When you lose, you’ll find out who’s going to come to work.”