Dylan Harper buried a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to deliver Rutgers a 66-63 rivalry win over visiting Seton Hall on Saturday in Piscataway, N.J.
The superstar freshman finished with 24 points and teammate Ace Bailey added 21 points and seven rebounds as Rutgers (7-4) overcame shaky free-throw shooting to notch its second straight victory in the series.
The Scarlet Knights only led for 9:27 of game time and overcame a 10-point deficit in the second half.
The hosts were up 63-59 in the final minute after Lathan Sommerville made two free throws and Harper knocked down an elbow jumper. But Harper and Bailey proceeded to miss two free throws apiece while Seton Hall’s Isaiah Coleman drove for a layup and drained two foul shots to tie the game at 63 with six seconds remaining.
After a timeout, Harper flew solo, dribbling himself open a few feet behind the 3-point arc and hitting the game-winner.
Jordan Derkack added nine points and five rebounds for Rutgers, which shot 53.5 percent from the field but an ugly 13-for-28 (46.4 percent) from the charity stripe.
Seton Hall (5-6) wasn’t much better, making 6 of 13 free-throw attempts. Coleman led the Pirates with 15 points and Yacine Toumi added 10. Emmanuel Okorafor had eight points and 10 rebounds.
Seton Hall had its first double-digit lead at 39-29 when Coleman stole the ball from Bailey and took it the other way for a dunk. Okorafor’s open dunk with 16:33 left made it 41-31.
Harper answered with a much-needed 3-pointer that sparked a 15-4 Rutgers run to flip the lead. Derkack sank four straight free throws to trim the margin to one, and Harper scored off an inbounds play to put the Scarlet Knights up 46-45 with 10:48 to go.
The teams traded the lead five times over the final 10 minutes. Coleman rattled in a 3-pointer with 3:31 left for a 57-56 Pirates lead, but Bailey replied with his own 20 seconds later, setting up the memorable finish.
Rutgers had seven turnovers before Seton Hall lost its first. The Pirates capitalized on the Scarlet Knights’ offensive stumbles, with Toumi knocking down a 3-pointer to establish a 14-6 lead less than 10 minutes in. Chaunce Jenkins (eight first-half points) added a poster dunk over Bailey with 9:15 left in the half.
Bailey fought back by scoring the Scarlet Knights’ final nine points of the half. Seton Hall took a pair of nine-point leads before Rutgers trimmed it to 33-27 by halftime.
–Field Level Media
