NEW YORK — When your season comes down to a controversial block at the buzzer, all the gains you’ve made prior to that can seem insignificant.
Seton Hall, playing in the first season under former player Shaheen Holloway, ended up on the wrong end of a call and its season ended with the Pirates wishing they had the last 10 seconds back from the 66-65 first-round loss to DePaul in the Big East tournament Wednesday evening at Madison Square Garden.
With 17 seconds left, Hall’s Jamir Harris gave the Pirates a two-possession lead, hitting two free throws to make it 65-61.
After Jalen Terry’s layup pulled DePaul within 65-63 with 7.2 seconds left, the quick-thinking Terry stole the inbounds pass and dished it to Umoja Gibson who was fouled by KC Ndefo while shooting a 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left.
Gibson calmly sank all three shots, including one after Holloway called timeout to draw up a winning play, for DePaul’s first lead in 15 minutes at 66-65.
Seton Hall’s Femi Okudale inbounded the ball to Tyrese Samuel before midcourt and Samuel gave it back to Okudale, who dribbled all the way to the glass, only to have his layup blocked by DePaul’s Nick Ongenda at the buzzer on what many of the Seton Hall-heavy crowd thought was goaltending.
After a short review, the officials ruled the block was good and DePaul (10-22) came away with the upset.
Coming off an impressive blowout win at Providence in the regular-season finale, No. 7 seed Seton Hall seemed prime to make it comfortably past No. 10 seed DePaul, a team the Pirates swept during the season.
But DePaul had other plans and will face second-seeded and 15th-ranked Xavier (23-8) in a quarterfinal Thursday at 7 p.m.
After a season of transition and major roster turnover under Holloway, Seton Hall is left with a what-if at the Garden.
The tough-as-nails Blue Demons led a tight game for much of the first 25 minutes and made the Pirates earn their way to the quarterfinals down the stretch.
Samuel finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds and Ndefo had 14 points for Seton Hall.
Javan Johnson had 19 points — including 5 for 9 from beyond the arc — and Ongenda added 15 points for DePaul.
After trailing 34-28 early in the second half, Seton Hall went on an 18-3 run, sparked by 10 points from Al-Amir Dawes, to lead, 46-37. DePaul, however, stayed in it with timely 3-pointers from Johnson to set up the frantic final moments.
