Scotty Middleton made a difficult putback with 3.2 seconds to play and Seton Hall ended the game on a 6-0 run to stun visiting UConn 69-68 in overtime and break a nine-game skid on Saturday in Newark, N.J.
Seton Hall overcame a late seven-point deficit as Dylan Addae-Wusu scored the team’s last 10 points of regulation, including the game-tying 3-pointer with less than five seconds left. UConn turned the ball over on a five-second violation to give the Pirates that possession under their basket.
UConn led for most of overtime, pushing ahead 65-61 on Solo Ball’s 3 and 68-63 on Tarris Reed Jr.’s first field goal of the game.
Four free throws brought the Pirates back within one point, and with nine seconds to go, UConn again muffed an inbounds play. Garwey Dual grabbed a steal and Middleton followed his own miss to score the game-winner.
Hassan Diarra’s last-ditch shot from midcourt bounced off the front of the rim for UConn as time expired.
The Pirates (7-18, 2-12 Big East) fared much better with Addae-Wusu, Middleton and Emmanuel Okorafor back from injury absences.
Isaiah Coleman had a game-high 23 points and eight rebounds, Godswill Erheriene had career bests of 12 points and 10 boards for his first double-double and Addae-Wusu added 13 points.
UConn (17-8, 9-5 Big East) committed 16 turnovers and shot a season-worst 37.3 percent from the field — just 8-for-28 in the first half.
Alex Karaban scored 20 points, Ball had 15 points and seven rebounds and Diarra added 12 points and five assists. Freshman Liam McNeeley chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds but committed six turnovers.
Karaban scored to put UConn up 17-14 with 8:59 left in the half, but then the Huskies hit a 6:17-long scoreless drought. Erheriene, Middleton and Coleman combined for an 11-0 Seton Hall run and an eight-point advantage before Ball knocked down a corner 3 to end the stretch.
UConn pulled within 25-22 by halftime but started the second half 1-for-11 from the floor. Seton Hall took a pair of seven-point leads before Jaylin Stewart got on the board for the first time with a 3-pointer at the 12:19 mark.
That finally got the Huskies going from outside, as Karaban knocked one down before Ball’s pull-up 3 made it 39-37 UConn, its first lead since 17-16.
Seton Hall tied the game at 43 and 45 before Garwey Dual’s open 3-pointer put the Pirates up 48-47 with 5:17 to play. McNeeley made a shot off the iron and in and followed that with a wide-open 3-pointer from the right corner. Karaban sank a trey on the next UConn possession for a 55-48 lead.
–Field Level Media
