By BEN BASKIN
Special to ZAGSBLOG
NEW YORK — It all fell apart for Seton Hall in the semis of the Coaches vs Cancer Classic at the Barclays Center on Friday night, and it fell apart astonishingly quickly.
The Pirates lost an absolute heartbreaker to the Oklahoma Sooners, 86-85, blowing a seven-point lead in the last two minutes thanks in large part to three costly turnovers. And they may have lost forward Patrik Auda for an extended period, too.
“It’s unfortunate,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. “I’m really proud of these guys. They battled. You have to give Oklahoma credit. In the last 45 seconds they did a good job and created a couple turnovers.”
Ater Eugene Teague hit two free throws to give Seton Hall a comfortable 84-77 lead with 1:52 left in the game, the Pirates seemed almost assured of earning the upset and advancing to the championship game. Instead, they will face Virginia Tech in Saturday’s consolation game.
“We have to go back and watch the last two minutes,” Willard said. “We did some things in the last two minutes that gave them a bit of momentum down the stretch.”
What Willard will see is turnovers. Three of them, to be exact. One by Fuquan Edwin with just over a minute left, and then two more on back-to-back plays with about 25 seconds left by Jaren Sina and Brandon Mobley.
“They’re [Oklahoma] a good trapping team, a good defensive team,” said sophomore guard Sterling Gibbs, who poured in a career-best 26 points. “I think we got a little flustered in the last couple seconds.”
The Pirates seemed simply overwhelmed by the Sooners full-court press, and their sloppy play allowed Oklahoma to come storming back into the game. Oklahoma’s improbable comeback culminated when Buddy Hield knocked down two free throws with nine seconds remaining to take the 86-85 lead.
Seton Hall had one last chance to salvage the game, but nearly turned it over again on the final play before regaining control of the ball with the clock ticking down. However, Brian Oliver’s final, desperation three to win the game at the buzzer didn’t even touch rim.
“Down the stretch we were just very fortunate to get a couple bounces,” Oklahoma coach Lou Kruger said. “It wouldn’t happen very often if you replayed it several times.”
To add injury to insult, Auda went down with a right foot injury with about six minutes left in the first half and didn’t re-enter the game. It is an especially scary injury for Seton Hall as Auda broke the fifth metatarsal in that same foot last season in a game against Maine on Nov. 21, almost exactly a year to the day of this injury.
Willard said that Auda did not re-break any bones in the foot, but that a cat scan will reveal whether the screw that was inserted last year had been bent.
“If he bent it, that’s obviously a major issue,” Willard said. “If he didn’t bend it, then it’s probably a month, maybe more.”
In a game that Seton Hall led by as much as eleven (61-50) with 12:46 left, and lost a major contributor in Auda for what looks to be an extended period of time, it could prove difficult for them to recover.
“It’s going to be a tough one to swallow,” Willard said. “But we have to bounce back tomorrow.”
The Pirates won’t have much time to recuperate, as they match up against Virginia Tech in the consolation game Saturday night, with tip off set for 7 pm.
