The men's basketball team was downed by the University of Connecticut, 78-67, on Sunday, despite 30-plus minutes of competitive basketball.
A 13-3 Connecticut run in the middle of the second half spelled the end of the Hall. Connecticut guard Shabazz Napier fueled the Huskies' run with eight of the 13 points.
After being held to only four points in the first half, Napier exploded in the second with 18 points. He finished with a team-high 22 points and added nine assists, six steals and four rebounds.
Head coach Kevin Willard said the result of the game was result of "untimely turnovers" in the second half.
"We had three turnovers in a row when we were up seven and then up five," Willard said. "That really changed the momentum for the game."
The Pirates had 10 second-half turnovers, and 16 for the game.
Pirates' Guard Aaron Cosby was responsible for four of those turnovers, but led all scorers with a career-high 25 points on 10-15 shooting.
Cosby made his return to the team after missing the game at Pittsburgh on Monday night due to family issues.
"It was a nice feeling, just being able to be back and help my team," Cosby said. "It was tough for me watching the Pittsburgh game not being there. I just wanted to come back focused."
The only blemish in Cosby's game, aside from the four turnovers, was shooting 1-3 from the free-throw line. The Pirates as a team missed 11 shots from the charity stripe, going 6-17 from the line-16 shots came in the second half.
The Huskies on the other hand shot 21-23 on free throws, which was the difference of the game.
Junior swingman Fuquan Edwin sparked a 16-0 run in the first half, with the Pirates trailing 25-12 in the first half. After the game Edwin said that constantly losing tightly contested games is tough on the morale of the team, especially with mental mistakes.
"It just sucks," Edwin said. "That we continue to kill ourselves. Our turnovers towards the end really killed us and we weren't getting any stops. That's the ball game right there."
Willard,though, said the team is not beating themselves up after losing close games, but just need to find a way to win.
"We don't feel sorry for ourselves," Willard said. "We are disappointed we lost but it's a matter of us figuring out how to win more or less than us losing."
Cosby said that he is Okay mentally, but he said he feels he needs to boost the morale of the team.
"I'm mentally in a good place," Cosby said. "I just have to keep my teammates there."
T.J. Brennan can be reached at Thomas.brennan@student.shu.edu. He can also be found on Twitter @BrennansBite.
