Another late comeback attempt falls short as the men's basketball team loses their sixth straight, this time to rival Rutgers. The loss drops the Pirates to 2-10 in Big East play and also snaps their five game winning streak at the RAC.
"It's tough and it hurts," junior Fuquan Edwin said. "This is a six game losing streak and this time to our rival team. It's something we've been preached to never lose to Rutgers. It's tough right now but we have to get over this hump."
Trailing by 12 with 4:23 left, the Hall slowly fought back to get within six. With 24 seconds remaining graduate Kyle Smyth made a 3-pointer for his first points of the game making it a three point game.
Down three, The Pirates seemed to have caught a break with Rutgers' sophomore Eli Carter taking an ill-advised layup with that rimmed out and gave the ball back to the Hall and 13 seconds left on the clock. However, junior Brian Oliver's pass was intercepted by Rutgers' Mike Poole as he tried to find sophomore Aaron Cosby at mid-court.
"I didn't put enough velocity on the ball as I should have," Oliver said. "It was a lazy pass, whether (Cosby) could have come back to it or kept going, I think no matter what if I would have put more on it or been more aware and given the ball to (freshman Tom Maayan) and kept it going for those 10 seconds and maybe set something up."
Poole's steal led to an intentional foul and him going to the free throw line with 10 seconds on the clock. Poole hit the first of the two shots with Edwin grabbing the rebound on the second. Bringing the ball up, Edwin hit a running 3-pointer between two Scarlet Knight defenders, but it was too little too late.
The Pirates fouled Carter on the inbound and he hit one of two from the charity stripe allowing Edwin to rebound the miss and throw up a desperation 3/4 court shot for the win, but it went over the backboard.
"We have been in a close game all year," head coach Kevin Willard said. "Every game we have had has been close except Georgetown. We're playing like the team we are now."
For most of the game the Pirates were led on the offensive end by Edwin, junior Eugene Teague and sophomore Brandon Mobley, all who are playing injured. Edwin had a game-high 18 points on 5-11 shooting followed by Teague's 12 points and Mobley's 10.
"If you are a basketball player loves this game when you go out there you forget about your injury," Edwin said. "I only think about it when I get hit but other than that, I'm not even worrying about it."
The Pirates return to the court Saturday night when they face the No. 6 Syracuse Orange at 8:00 p.m. at the Prudential Center.
Stephen Valenti can be reached at stephen.valenti@student.shu.edu
