Jackie Johnson III hit a floater to beat the buzzer as visiting Fordham upset Seton Hall 57-56 on Saturday in South Orange, N.J.
Johnson scored a game-high 18 points and fought through his defender to hoist up a last-second shot that was upheld upon review.
Will Richardson added 11 points for Fordham (1-1), which bounced back from a 32-point defeat to another Big East team, St. John’s.
Yacine Toumi scored a team-high 12 points on perfect 5-for-5 shooting for Seton Hall (1-1) before fouling out in the final three minutes.
With Seton Hall struggling through a 2-for-13 shooting stretch, Prince Aligbe scored a driving layup out of a timeout to put the Pirates ahead 55-52, and Seton Hall’s Chaunce Jenkins added one free throw with 22 seconds left.
Richardson tossed up a 3-pointer and Aligbe was whistled for a shooting foul, though replay showed he neither touched the defender nor interfered in his landing spot. Richardson made all three foul shots to make it a one-point game.
Seton Hall got the ball in, but Algibe’s pass to the baseline glanced off Dylan Addae-Wusu’s fingertips and out of bounds with 11 seconds left. Fordham called timeout and drew up the winning play.
Aligbe had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Pirates, who outshot the Rams 40.7 percent to 36.5 percent.
Six quick points from Toumi helped Seton Hall build a 14-7 lead, but Fordham kept it within five for the rest of the first half.
Richardson made his second 3-pointer of the day at the 3:38 mark, but Seton Hall picked up the pace and Addae-Wusu knocked down one of his own nine seconds later to restore a four-point advantage. Godswill Erheriene got a layup to fall in the final seconds to put the Pirates up 32-28 at halftime.
Johnson started the second half 3-for-3 from the field, his back-to-back triples and game-tying layup pulling Fordham level at 38-38. It was the first of four ties and five lead changes in the half.
–Field Level Media
