Pirates go cold late in loss to Louisville

Prosperity, as it turned out, was fleeting for Seton Hall. Just like the Pirates’ 12-point first-half lead Saturday and their nine-point edge in the second stanza.

Such is life for a young team finding its way in this minefield of a nonconference schedule coach Kevin Willard formulated.

Seton Hall showed its youth and was unable to finish off a quality opponent that was ripe to be put away. As a result, the Pirates couldn’t build off their impressive Wooden Legacy title from last weekend, suffering a bitterly disappointing 70-65 loss to Louisville in front of 8,505 at Prudential Center.

“Getting this group to understand time and score, and opportunities, there’s no better way to do it [than] against these teams,” said a clearly frustrated Willard. “They made good plays and we didn’t.”

There was the big lead early, a 19-7 edge just 7:17 in, and a 52-43 advantage with 13:52 left in the second half. But on each occasion, a few loose possessions cost the Pirates the chance to pull away.

The biggest problem was the 8:14 stretch of the second half in which Seton Hall (4-3) managed just a single field goal, allowing the Cardinals (5-2) to turn a fivepoint deficit into a four-point lead.

Before Myles Powell’s 3-pointer with 1:59 left, Seton Hall missed 19 of 21 shots, mostly not high-percentage attempts.

“It’s frustrating,” sophomore forward Sandro Mamukelashvili said. “We’re a young team. Every time it comes down to the wire, I feel like everybody’s a little stressed. So we’ve got to chill out a little bit, trust each other more.”

Powell scored a game-high 23 points, but was just 2 of 12 from the 3-point line, and Willard said he felt some of the attempts were forced. Mike Nzei added 12 points with six rebounds, but the senior forward didn’t have many opportunities late. That, Willard said, needs to change.

“I think the biggest thing is other guys have to get a little bit more confident in the fact that they’re going to have to make a play,” Willard said.