Seton Hall outlasts VCU in OT, 69-66

Final Score: Seton Hall 69, VCU 66 (OT)
Location: TD Arena in Charleston, S.C.
Updated Records: VCU 4-1, Seton Hall 3-2

In a nutshell: It was an intense struggle of conflicting styles the whole way. The offense-minded VCU Rams wanted to speed up the pace in an open court, while the defense-minded Seton Hall Pirates wanted to slow it down to a half court contest. 

Some observers might characterize the first 20-minute period as a "rock fight." At the half, VCU led by a 28-to-25 score. 

However, after being ahead by three-to-five points for nearly 29 minutes, as the clock wound down in regulation weary VCU began wilting and coughed up its lead. Then, in overtime, the panicking Rams just ran out of gas; they sank only 1-of-8 shooting from the field. 

Overall, the Pirates defense held the Rams' shooting from beyond the arc to 9-of-37 (24 percent). Perhaps the game's most telling statistic was that Seton Hall won the battle of the boards by a whopping 44-30 margin.

More Rams Stats: Max Shulga poured in 20 points. He added five boards and two steals. Coming off the bench, Zeb Jackson, who missed this season's first four games with a broken shooting hand (the left), scored 15 points, with three steals. Joe Bamisile contributed 13 points, five rebounds and three assists for VCU.

NOTES (Information provided by Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.)

• Seton Hall's Chaunce Jenkins led all scorers with 22 points. He hit a go-ahead jumper with 2:21 remaining in overtime to give the Pirates a 65-63 lead. A free throw pulled VCU within 65-64. A short time later, Seton Hall’s David Tubek buried a 3-pointer from the left wing late in the shot clock to push the Pirates edge to 68-64 with 35 seconds remaining. 

• Shulga pulled VCU within 68-66 with a jumper with 13 seconds left, but the Rams could get no closer. A 3-point attempt on VCU’s final possession was wide. Then Shulga sent the game to overtime when he drove to the rim for a bucket to tie the score at 61-61 with two seconds showing in regulation. 

• The Rams led by as many as eight points in the second half and held a 57-53 lead with 3:55 remaining after Bamisile scored on a tip-in and hit a 3-pointer on consecutive VCU possessions. But Tubek drilled a three with 2:54 left. Shulga pushed VCU ahead 59-57 at the 1:03 mark, but Jenkins hit two free throws with 42 seconds showing, then scored on a layup on Seton Hall’s ensuing possession to give the Pirates a 61-59 lead

• The game featured nine ties and 14 lead changes.

BOXSCORE

NEXT UP:

VCU will face Nevada on Fri., Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at TD Arena. The game will stream live on ESPN+.

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