Seton Hall falls to Fordham in buy game on buzzer-beater at Walsh Gym

This is going to be a work in progress for Shaheen Holloway and his new-look Seton Hall Pirates.
The Hall looked rough and ragged for much of the afternoon tilt and ended up falling in a buy game to Fordham, 57-56, on a buzzer-beater by Jackie Johnson III at cozy Walsh Gym. The Pirates led by 4 points with 21 seconds remaining but could not hold on. They are now 27-30 all-time against Fordham.
The loss was the Pirates’ first non-conference regular season loss in Walsh Gym since a 65-60 defeat to Fordham on Dec. 16, 1989.
Fordham was picked 14th in the Atlantic 10.
The Hall fell to 1-1 on the young season, while Fordham is 1-1 after opening against two Big East outfits in St. John’s — which won by 32 on Monday — and Seton Hall.
“This is home and we have to protect home, and I think that’s what really stings right now,” Pirates forward Prince Aligbe said. “Obviously, it hurts, it hurst really bad but we just gotta come back and work.”
Holloway once again employed 11 players in a strategy reminiscent of his Saint Peter’s team that reached the Elite Eight three years ago.
The Hall struggled to get good shot opportunities for much of the game. Yacine Toumi, the 6-foot-10 Evansville transfer originally from France, was the offensive star with 12 points but fouled out with 2:52 remaining, while Aligbe added 10 points and 7 boards. His driving bucket put the Pirates up 55-52 with 1:16 remaining.
The Hall shot 8-of-16 from the line.
Dylan Addae-Wusu played an aggressive game with 8 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds, but lost the ball out of bounds with 11.4 seconds left on a drive to the basket and The Hall clinging to a one-point lead.
“I lost the ball,” Addae-Wusu said.
Fordham called a timeout with 7 seconds remaining. Johnson III got the ball on an inbounds and dribbled to his left around Isaiah Coleman and hit a game-winning floater to ice the win. He finished with a game-high 18 points along with 4 assists and 3 rebounds.
“Everybody dreams of moments like that, and it felt great,” Johnson III said.
“It’s not surprising to anybody in that locker room that that went in,” Fordham coach Keith Urgo said.
It was the first win for Fordham over a Big East foe since 2015 when the Rams beat a Chris Mullin-coached St. John’s team.
“It’s huge for our league but our league this year is as deep as it’s been since I’ve been there,” Urgo said. “Overall, I think we have a lot of opportunities as a league to make some noise and hopefully this is the start of something.”
Chaunce Jenkins managed just 6 points on 2-of-6 shooting after pouring in 19 points in Monday’s season-opening win over Saint Peter’s, but he did dish 4 assists and grab 5 boards. He made 1-of-2 foul shots in the final seconds to make it 56-52.
Coleman made his season debut after missing the opener with a muscle strain and tallied 7 points and 3 boards.
Teaneck, N.J. native Will Richardson scored 11 points with 4 rebounds and 4 assists and former Bergen Catholic big man Matt Zona made a 3-pointer in the second half.
“It means a lot [coming home] having my friends and family see me play,” Richardson said. “It’s great to get a win.”
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In the first half, things looked uneven at times. On one possession, Wisconsin transfer Gus Yalden attempted a layup that hit the rim. After it caromed back to Aligbe, he flat out missed a layup.
Yalden later made a layup and then raised his arms to the crowd as he went to the bench.
“Let’s get the f— up,” he shouted.
When freshman Godswill Erheriene scored on a fastbreak layup at the opening of the second half, Yalden gave his teammate a chest bump.
Coleman made two foul shots to give The Hall a 53-51 lead with about 4 minutes remaining.
With the Pirates ahead 53-52, Aligbe drove strong into the paint and scored to push the lead to 3 points.
Richardson was fouled on a 3-pointer with 16.8 seconds left and made all three to cut it to 56-55.
“Sometimes you gotta lose to win,” Holloway said. “I gotta do a better job with these guys….But we’ll get better and we’re going to learn from this. When we put it together it’s going to be really good, but we ain’t there yet.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.