Jalen Terry scored 28 points and David Jones added 24 as DePaul never trailed and held off a furious comeback by No. 20 Seton Hall for a 96-92 upset victory in a Big East game in Chicago on Thursday.
Javon Freeman-Liberty, who entered Thursday leading DePaul (10-6, 1-5 Big East) with 21.7 points per game, scored 12 and played only 23 minutes because of an apparent leg injury suffered during the second half after he crashed into a media table chasing a loose ball. Yor Anei added 11 points for the winners.
Jared Rhoden had 25 points to lead Seton Hall (11-4, 2-3), which shot 5-for-18 (27.8 percent) from 3-point range. Bryce Aiken scored 22 points, Kadary Richmond had 11 and Tray Jackson added 10.
Seton Hall outscored the Blue Demons 10-3 to trim the lead to 90-86 on a 3-pointer by Rhoden with 21 seconds left, and later got within 92-90 on two foul shots by Aiken. But DePaul made its last seven foul shots to hold on.
Seton Hall began the second half by quickly cutting into the hosts’ 17-point halftime lead with an 8-2 run keyed by six points from Rhoden. His putback cut the DePaul lead to 54-43 with 16:48 to go. The clock was stopped at that point to tend to Freeman-Liberty, who came off the court with the injury.
Surprisingly, the Blue Demons increased their lead to 60-43 with Freeman-Liberty not on the court. The most spectacular basket during that brief burst occurred when Brandon Johnson, at full speed, saved an errant pass from going out of bounds. He flung the ball behind his head to Jones, who laid it in to restore DePaul’s 17-point lead with 14:37 to go.
DePaul made six of its first 10 shots from the field to open an 18-6 lead on Nick Ongenda’s three-point play with 14:27 to go in the first half. The Blue Demons cooled off, but began aggressively going to the rim, getting 7-foot-2 Ike Obiagu to commit two fouls.
The Blue Demons sank 14 of 15 foul shots in the first half, which helped them take a 52-35 lead at intermission.
–Field Level Media
