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BY MIKE VORKUNOV
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
The second installment of this season's Seton Hall-Rutgers rivalry will not be remembered for the sloppy play and cockeyed shooting. It won't be thought of as just the latest in a string of four straight victories for the Pirates at the expense of the Scarlet Knights, and the fifth in six games in the series.
No, the 85-74 Seton Hall (17-11, 8-9) win at the RAC will be remembered as the night when an emotional Senior Night was ruined for one of the most popular players in Rutgers history, when a fracas ensued leaving the building on edge and when once again the postgame talk was about handshakes and not hoops.
In the eyes of some, this rivalry had lost some luster. The same can't be said after last night, after the Rumble at the RAC.
The biggest blow came with 12:59 remaining. After Seton Hall's Jeff Robinson missed a jump shot – during which Rutgers' Hamady N'diaye hit him in the face while trying to close out – the Knights went down the court.In the transition, Robinson pushed N'diaye from behind, sending the big man rolling on the floor. N'diaye quickly popped back up and tried to get at Robinson but was restrained.
During the ensuing moments, Rutgers' Dane Miller also had to be held back from going after Jordan Theodore.
"He was running down the court and I was the only one back so I tried to run and just stop him but he tripped over my foot and he just fell," said Robinson. "I didn't push him or anything and he just tripped."
The video appeared to suggest otherwise. Robinson was assessed with an intentional foul and N'diaye with a technical foul. From there the arena was on tilt.
The game was stopped for several minutes as officials figured out the improprieties and penalties. And then Seton Hall went on a run.
The Pirates turned a slim 48-45 lead into a 61-52 advantage, giving themselves ample room to breathe thanks to seven points by Jeremy Hazell in a 3:41 stretch. Hazell scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half – all after the scrum.
"I feel like it helps us because it brings our team closer because we know we're on the road and it's a tough place to play," said Robinson. "No matter who you're playing on the road no matter who you're playing, you lean on each other more when it's loud like that and you try to win on the road so it brings us closer together."
By the end of the game, with the Pirates holding vice grip on the victory, Hazell and Robinson added exclamation points with all-alone dunks in the final 22 seconds.
That led to a heated handshake-line exchange after the game's end between Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez, Rutgers assistant Darren Savino and RU recruiting coordinator Jim Carr.
Rutgers coach Fred Hill said he did not see the exchange, but said he had no problem with Seton Hall's dunks.
"Nobody is trying to embarrass or humiliate anybody," said Gonzalez. "It's tough in a rivalry game and there is a lot of emotion. Again, that's all I can say. It's a rivalry game. All's fair in love and war basically."
"Lot of emotion, it's a rivalry," he added. "That's what's good about a rivalry. That's the way it's supposed to be. There is a reason they are rivalries. They're supposed to be a little heated and emotion and energy and a little bit of angst or whatever. And that exists."
The night began as a tribute to N'diaye on Senior Night. Cardboard cutouts of his face were distributed; students were given special shirts emblazed with the letter "H" in the colors of the Senegalese flag and replicas of his trademark headband.
Even Hill ditched his usual suit for the commemorative t-shirt and a blazer.
N'diaye, with his mother watching in person for the first time, turned in another yeoman's night of work. He scored 12 points, grabbed five rebounds and blocked five shots to move to within four of tying the school record.
But as has often been the case during his four-year career on the Banks, he went home defeated.
"It's a special night for H," said Hill. "He's a special human being. He's a special player here at Rutgers. He's meant the world to this program. We've talk about how he's the one that changed the attitude, the culture of where we're headed and what we're doing. So we certainly wanted to win it for H but we came up a little short."
The Pirates were led by their inside of Robinson and Herb Pope. With Rutgers starting in a junk zone that left the two unaccounted for, Pope scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half. He added 18 rebounds and three blocks.
Robinson had a double-double of his own with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Those 32 cumulative rebounds were part of the Pirates thrashing on the boards, where they won the battle 56-41.
"I thought the difference was very simple," said Hill. "They outrebounded us and that's something that we've been better at but tonight we just didn't have it on the glass."
Robinson and Pope helped to overwhelm five Knights in double-figures, led by Rosario's 17 points but on 4-16 shooting and a first half where he scored only one point. Jonathan Mitchell added 13 points and 13 rebounds.
After a controversial finish to the previous meeting between the two schools, with Pope fouling Miller hard at the buzzer on a dunk attempt, Pope said how that incident played out also motivated his team.
"Everything that they said, we heard," said Pope. Obviously they wanted to pick it up as a rivalry. To me I didn't think I fouled him hard, I just kept him grounded. And they wanted to pump it up and get there team to go. It ended up being flip-flop and we got the dunks and they didn't. That's how it happens in rivalry games, you never know what's going to happen."
