Short-handed Pirates prevail in overtime

There was tension inside Prudential Center on Wednesday night — February tension. The kind of tension that surrounds a team on the NCAA Tournament bubble, when everyone understands that another misstep could lead to an empty March.

And Seton Hall responded like a team used to playing with such tension — the Pirates spent all of February on the NCAA Tournament bubble a year ago, after all — getting the stops it needed, getting the clutch shots it had to have to prevail. In the end, the Pirates survived against Providence, 72-70 in overtime, on freshman Myles Powell’s spinning onehanded runner in the lane with 7.9 seconds left.

“Last year is helping us a lot this year. We’re trying to lead the new guys through it,” junior guard Khadeen Carrington said. “Winning plays, we harp on that.”

On the other end, Kyron Cartwright’s long jump shot for the Friars clanged off the rim at the horn, and the Pirates had their second straight overtime victory, after dropping five of the previous six games.

The Pirates, with just a six-man rotation because Jevon Thomas left the team and junior forward Ismael Sanogo (ankle) was held out, needed 44 gritty minutes from Carrington and 43 from forward Angel Delgado (19 points, 15 rebounds). The Pirates, who rallied from 15 points down in the first half and trailed three times in the extra session, are starting to regain the momentum they lost in January.

“It just shows what type of team we are,” said Carrington, who scored five of his 21 points in the extra session, and added seven rebounds and five assists. “We’re a tough-nosed team, we got a tough-nosed coach, and he just believes in us.”

Seton Hall (15-8, 5-6 Big East) appeared to be in control in regulation, up 60-56 with 4:03 to go, before going ice cold, failing to score on five consecutive posses- sions. After Rodney Bullock gave Providence (14-11, 4-8) a 61-60 lead with a top-of-the-key jumper, Desi Rodriguez stopped the drought, answering with a free throw with 33.9 seconds to go. The seesaw affair went to overtime when Providence was unable to get a shot off at the other end, and Powell’s desperation heave at the buzzer didn’t draw iron.

That didn’t faze him. With the clock winding down, Carrington fed Powell above the 3-point line, and he attacked. The freshman spun and threw up a running onehander that hit every part of the rim before falling, his 13th and 14th points of the night.

“I knew it was going in,” Powell said with a smile.

“He’s got some big onions,” Carrington joked.