Notre Dame 63 – Seton Hall 61
The ball and the game were hanging in the air, and it was Notre Dame’s Ryan Humphrey that seized both. With Seton Hall and the Fighting Irish deadlocked and only 10 seconds to play, Hall point guard Andre Barrett had missed a spinning, twisting shot in heavy traffic. Three Pirates swarmed for the rebound; Humphrey got it.
He made a finger-tip grab and lobbed the ball upcourt to Chris Thomas, who had broken for the other basket. Thomas’ breakaway layup put Notre Dame ahead 63-61 with just 5.8 seconds left at the Meadowlands. And when Seton Hall center Charles Manga’s last-second, 3-point attempt clanged off the back rim, the Pirates had fallen just short against the Irish yet again.
The Pirates (11-10, 4-5) have alternated wins and losses the last 11 games, including two losses to Notre Dame in the last nine days. Now they will finish the season with an eight-game gauntlet that includes five ranked teams, plus Georgetown and improved Rutgers.
As Super Bowl pregame shows go, this was a great one. As chances wasted go, it was a bad one.
“I thought [Barrett] got fouled, but in a game like that, last-play situation, the refs put it in our hands,” said Darius Lane, who had a team-high 17 points. “It’s real tough, because it was on our home court. This is a tough loss because we thought we could really beat these guys, come out and put these guys away. They fought, played hard and they won.”
The Pirates seemed to have put Notre Dame away early. Perhaps out of sync playing their first road game in 19 days, the Irish (15-6, 5-3) missed their first nine shots and spotted the Hall a 15-2 lead. But they rallied to hit 14-of-21 to close the first half on a 31-11 run. Notre Dame double-teamed Barrett – who came in averaging 17.1 ppg – holding him to nine points on 3-of-10 shooting and went into intermission ahead 33-26.
The Hall opened the second half with a 10-0 run, sparked by Manga’s first 3-pointer of the season. After David Graves (a game-high 20 points) knotted the score at 36 with a 3-pointer, there were six lead changes and five more ties in this seesaw affair.
After ties at 55, 59 and 61, the Hall ended up with the ball with :39.1 left in the game and :28 on the shot clock. Barrett missed a shot in the lane, and Manga and Lane lunged at the rebound from the top of the key.
Two Irish players broke for the basket, and when Humphrey got the rebound, he found Thomas for the easiest – and biggest – basket of the game with :05.8 left. On the Pirates’ last possession, John Allen split two defenders and found Manga for an open 3-point shot. Manga thought it was good, leaving his hand raised, but the shot bounced off the back of the rim.
“I felt good taking the shot. That’s why I posed for a second. Unfortunately, the ball didn’t drop,” said Manga, who barely remembered Thomas’ shot. “Everything was a blur: I just remember the ball going down the court.”
Like a blurred nightmare.
“It’s a fine line between winning and losing,” said Pirates coach Louis Orr. “The way the ball bounces makes all the difference in the world.”