Seton Hall goes on the road and takes down No. 17 Louisville

The Seton Hall Pirates got a big time win on Sunday, taking down the 17th ranked Louisville Cardinals 79-77 inside the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday.

The game-winner came off the left hand of Desi Rodriguez, who drove down the left side of the lane, absorbed contact and banked home the layup. Louisville’s Quentin Snider had one last look from 3 to win the game, but it hit back iron, and the Pirates were winners.

Rodriguez finished with a season-high 29 points, one off his career high of 30 points he set last year against Marquette.

The Pirates controlled much of the first half, holding the lead for nearly 18 of the first 20 minutes. Rodriguez was the man in the first half, scoring 19 of the Pirates 38 first half points.

In the second half, the Pirates went on a mini 7-2 run to take a six point lead at 45-39. However, Louisville would answer with a 10-0 run of their own to take a 49-45 lead with 14 minutes left.

The teams would then trade buckets down the stretch until 1:40 left, when Myles Powell came off a screen and buried a contested three to give the Pirates a 77-73 lead.

A layup for Dwayne Sutton and a tough jumper for Deng Adel tied the score up at 77-77 with 30 seconds left, paving the way for Rodriguez’s game-winning layup to give the Pirates the victory.

The Pirates complete a 2-0 week against two ranked foes, the other being a win against No. 22 Texas Tech on Thursday night. This is the first victory for Seton Hall over Louisville since 2010, when Louisville was in the Big East.

The Pirates now get a week of rest before they take on VCU next Saturday. They’ll wake up tomorrow happy to see their name in the AP Top 25.