Villanova Edged By Seton Hall 66-65
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Fuquan Edwin scored 18 points, including a 3-pointer with 8.9 seconds left, to give Seton Hall a 66-65 victory over Villanova Monday night.
The victory snapped the Pirates' (14-15, 3-13 Big East) nine-game losing streak and was just the second win in their last 15 tries.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Villanova (18-11, 9-7), as the Wildcats suffered a crushing blow as they try to secure an NCAA tournament bid.
With 13 seconds left, Edwin hit two free throws to draw the Pirates to within 65-63, then Tom Maayan made a steal and fed Edwin, who drained a 3-pointer that gave the Pirates the lead at 66-65 with 8.9 seconds left.
Villanova tried to get off a final shot, but Ryan Arcidiacono's fade away at the buzzer fell short, giving the Pirates the unlikely victory.
Aaron Cosby scored a game-high 21 points for the Pirates. He also had six assists and five rebounds. Kyle Smyth had 12 points, all from long range. Brian Oliver added 11 off the bench.
JayVaughn Pinkston fouled out with 15 points. Mouphtaou Yarou had 14 points, including a clutch baseline jumper with 22 seconds left, and grabbed 15 rebounds. Darrun Hilliard fouled out with 11 points, but hit a huge 3-pointer that gave the Wildcats a 63-58 lead with under a minute to play.
Using its outside shooting prowess to its advantage, the Pirates were able to go into halftime tied at 32-32.
Seton Hall's biggest lead was at 20-14 with 8:32 remaining on a 3-pointer from Smyth, his fourth from behind the arc in the first half.
The Wildcats then went on a 10-0 run to take a 24-20 lead on two free throws from Arcidiacono with 4 minutes left. Arcidiacono scored the last four points of the run.
Brian Oliver hit the first of his two 3-pointers that enabled the Pirates to regain the lead, 25-24. Teams traded the lead three more times in the half.
Cosby hit two free throws to take a 32-30 advantage with 33 seconds left, then Arcidiacono hit two free throws that tied the game at the half.
Incredibly, Seton Hall had nine field goals in the first half and eight came from 3-point range. They went the first 17 minutes of the first half without a 2-point field goal.
Cosby opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Pirates a 38-36 edge with 17:09 remaining. From there, the Pirates hit 11 field goals, 10 of which were from 3-point range.
Arciadiacono nailed a corner 3-pointer with one second left on the shot clock to tie the game at 43-43 with 14:20 left.
Yarou scored two straight baskets down low to give Villanova a 49-45 lead with 10:40 remaining.
Oliver hit a 3-pointer that gave Seton Hall a 53-51 lead, but the Wildcats scored seven straight points to take a 58-53 with lead 5:32 left on a three-point play from Pinkston.
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