No. 10 Seton Hall falls to Providence in wild court-storming finish

gill seton hall

Seton Hall's Romaro Gill blocks a shot by Providence's David Duke during the second half on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo | Stew Milne)AP

PROVIDENCE — What a difference a week makes.

Just last Saturday, Seton Hall was flying high after winning at Villanova for the first time since 1994 and leaving Philadelphia with a three-game cushion atop the Big East standings.

One week later and the Pirates’ lead is down to one game over second-place Creighton.

No. 10 Seton Hall made a vigorous comeback after being blitzed early in their visit to Dunkin’ Donuts Center but were dealt a 74-71 loss by Providence for their second straight defeat following Wednesday’s home loss to Creighton. It was the first Big East road loss for Seton Hall (18-7, 10-3) this season after they started a perfect 6-0 away from Newark.

The Friar faithful stormed the floor in celebration after the apparent victory, but it was announced the game was not yet over.

"The game is not over, get off the court," an announcer said.

They cleared the court and put .2 seconds left on the clock because Quincy McKnight had been fouled by Greg Gantt and Providence was whistled for a technical foul for the early court storm. McKnight made all three and Providence closed out the win.

Creighton smashed DePaul, 93-64, Saturday night at home to improve to 20-6, 9-4 in the league. Villanova is now 1 1/2 games back of Seton Hall. The No. 15 Wildcats (18-6, 8-4) play a Big 5 game with Temple on Sunday.

Things won’t get any easier for Seton Hall when No. 19 Butler visits The Rock on Wednesday.

Alpha Diallo poured in a season-best 35 points on 11-of-15 shooting along with 10 rebounds for the Friars (14-12, 7-6).

Myles Powell led Seton Hall with 27 points on 9-of-20 shooting and moved past Jeremy Hazell for third place on the all-time school scoring list. McKnight added 14 points and three rebounds but did not have one of his better games. He shot 1-of-8 and had three turnovers.

The Pirates were out-rebounded 47-34.

After trailing by 25 points in the first half, Seton Hall closed to within 47-45 on a contested 3-pointer by Powell.

The run was sparked on the defensive end by Romaro Gill blocking and altering shots on one end and Powell often taking it to the hole on the other.

Providence fans chanted, “These refs suck!” during the second half, when Powell went to the free-throw line after being fouled.

After Providence went up 52-45, a conventional 3-point play by Quincy McKnight cut the deficit to 52-50.

But Diallo scored four straight points for the Friars to push it back to 56-50.

A 3-point attempt by Powell that would’ve cut the deficit to 62-57 rimmed out. Instead, the Friars led 64-54 after their next bucket. A three by Powell cut it 67-62 with 47.3 seconds left.

Luwane Pipkins (13 points) made two free throws to push it to 69-62.

Powell hit an off-balance three to make it 69-65 with 21.2 seconds left but David Duke made the free throws on the other end for a 71-65 lead.

Shavar Reynolds then hit a three from the right wing to trim the deficit to 71-68 but Duke again the foul shots for a 73-68 edge.

Seton Hall went down 20-2 before the fans settled into their seats. Pirates coach Kevin Willard got a technical foul that led to a 28-5 Providence cushion. The Friars led by as many as 25 at 34-9 before Seton Hall showed some signs of life.

They closed the half on an 18-7 spurt to cut it to 41-27 at the break. Diallo had 19 points at the break for Providence.

The Pirates shot 8-of-28 (29 percent) in the first half while being out-boarded 26-15.

SETON HALL TARGET SETS DATE

Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, the 6-foot-7, 205-pound Class of 2020 wing from Orangeville Prep in Canada, will announce his college decision on Feb. 21.

Moncrieffe is down to Seton Hall, Georgetown and Oklahoma State. He is no longer considering other schools.

He has visited all three schools, most recently attending the Seton Hall-Georgetown game Feb. 5. For more on that visit and his thoughts on all three schools, read my piece from last week.

Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.

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