Seton Hall knocks off VCU at Charleston Classic for 1st big win of season

Seton Hall finally has a big win on its résumé.
The Pirates entered their game with VCU at the Charleston Classic leading Division 1 in scoring defense at 48.5 points per game, but hadn’t scored 60 points in a game yet this season.
The Hall broke that trend with a dramatic 69-66 overtime win over the previously unbeaten Rams, the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Pirates trailed by 8 points in the second half.
“It’s big,” Pirates coach Shaheen Holloway said in his post-game radio interview. “VCU’s a really good team, especially [because] we gave away two earlier. Now I gotta rest these guys. Now I gotta watch film all night and try to figure out how we can get a win tomorrow.”
The Pirates (3-2) — who suffered losses to local rivals Fordham and Hofstra — will play Vanderbilt in the semifinals on Friday at 5 p.m. ET.
Chaunce Jenkins, The Hall’s leading scorer, scored all 22 of his points in the second half and the overtime. After not playing 13 minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Jenkins came alive late in the second half and the overtime.
He scored nine straight for the Pirates during a stretch bridging the second half and OT, including a turnaround jumper that put The Hall up 65-63 in the OT. He made 1-of-2 free throws with 10.1 seconds left to put The Hall up 69-66. Jenkins finished 9-of-11 from the line.
“My mindset was just that it was a must-win,” Jenkins said by phone. “Whatever we had to do to pull the win out, that’s what we were going to do. It was a huge for us. I told the guys before the game that we got this one, we’re going to be sending a message, and down the stretch it was just whatever, put my body on the line, whatever we had to do to win the game.”
“He put us on his back,” Holloway said. “He went out there and played. He did exactly what I need him to do, he went out there and played basketball.”
David Tubek (9 points) drilled his third 3-pointer to give The Hall a 68-64 lead.
“When he hit that, I was just like, ‘Oh, Thank God,’” Jenkins said. “Such a big shot, and he’s such a good shooter. We see him do it every day in practice. When he hit that, I knew we had a big chance to win and we just had to finish out from there.””
“Tubek practiced hard, and I reward guys who practice hard,” Holloway said.
Isaiah Coleman, who originally committed to play at College of Charleston, added 12 points and 10 boards.
The Hall shot 16-of-25 from the line, but out-rebounded VCU 44-30.
VCU’s leading scorer Joe Bamisile (19.5 ppg) scored all 13 of his points in the second half after missing all seven of his shots in the first half, but finished 5-of-19 from the field. He missed a potential game-tying three at the buzzer.
Max Shulga added 20 points and 5 rebounds and Zeb Jackson 15 for VCU (4-1).
“We’re resilient,” Jenkins said. “Obviously, it’s still early in the season but we’ve had a lot of ups and downs. All the work we put in, all the grinding in practice, all the bad days, all the good days, you just stay resilient and we can prevail through anything.”
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The Rams took a 28-25 halftime lead, thanks to an 11-5 advantage in points off turnovers.
A layup by Coleman capped a 10-3 run and tied it at 50 with about six minutes remaining.
Tubek drained a 3-pointer to give the Pirates a 53-52 lead, their first in the second half.
A three by Bamisile put the Rams up 57-53 with 3:45 remaining.
Tubek drained a corner three off a dish from Jenkins to cut it to 57-56 with under three minutes.
Shulga, who initially committed to transfer to Villanova before returning to VCU, hit two free throws for a 59-57 lead with 1:04 remaining.
Jenkins tied it at 59 with a pair of free throws with 43 seconds left.
After a VCU miss, Jenkins then drove to the bucket to make it 61-59 with 14.8 seconds on the clock.
Shulga tied it with a layup in the final seconds of regulation.
Now Jenkins and the Pirates have a short turnaround to Friday.
“Obviously, not celebrating too much and staying focused,” he said. “We gotta shift our focus to tomorrow.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.