The Seton Hall Pirates men’s basketball team hosted Providence on Tuesday night in Newark and ended in a final score of 69-67 in favor of the Providence Friars.
This loss was the sixth straight for the Pirates who are currently 6-15 on the season and 1-9 in the conference, dropping them to the 11th spot in the Big East. Providence, on the other hand, is 11-10 on the season and sits in the fifth spot in the Big East.
In the first half, the lead changed 18 times, and 56 points were scored in total by both teams. The half-time score was 30-26 in favor of Providence. Jayden Prime led the Friars at the half with 10 points and three rebounds. Garwey Dual led the Pirates with 10 points.
A completely new game was played in the second half as it had seemed that Providence was going to run away with the win on the night as they built their largest lead on the night at 15 points up on the Pirates at 44-29 after freshman forward, Oswin Erhunmwunse went two of two on free throws. The Pirates would then quickly answer back scoring four straight baskets for a total of nine points making it only a 6-point game from there.
Seton Hall would once again find themselves back in the lead late in the second half after an and-one conversion was made by junior, Prince Aligbe, who led the Pirates on the night with 19 points and contributed four rebounds and an assist. Aligbe was the main headache for Providence on the night as it seemed that they struggled to lock him down in every one-on-one. Aligbe converted three and-ones and went five-for-five from the free-throw line. From being down by 15, the pirates seemed determined to take home the win, but the lead was not enough as Providence would yet again take the lead on the very next possession thanks to a two-pointer by Corey Floyd, Jr.
It would come down to the final seconds of the game to determine who would walk out of Prudential Center victorious. With the Pirates were down 68-65, Isaiah Coleman had the opportunity to tie it up for Seton Hall with three free-throws after he was fouled outside of the three-point line. Coleman was very unlucky making only one out of the three. He missed the second free throw and on the final free throw was called for a foul which meant the free throw no longer counted and possession went to Providence.
The pirates made a final pair of baskets but were not able to tie it late in the game and the game ended with the final score of 69-67.
Jayden Pierre led Providence in points with a total of 16 and contributed four rebounds and three assists. Oswin Erhunmwunse, Corey Floyd Jr., and Bensley Joseph all combined for a total of 34 points. Jabri Abdur-Rahim came off the bench and dropped 13 points.
Prince Aligbe, Garwey Dual, and Dylan Addae-Wusu all combined for 45 points. Scotty Middleton and Jahseem Felton each contributed eight points on the night off the bench for the Pirates.
Seton Hall will be back in action next month as they will face off against a familiar foe in DePaul and look to get off this tough losing streak.
Providence will yet again be on the road against St. John’s looking to keep their momentum going, but it will not be easy as St. John’s has an impressive 18-3 season record and is 9-1 in the conference to sit first in the Big East.
