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Pirates coach Bobby Gonzalez talked boldly before this season began about how making the NCAA tournament was a goal -- and a realistic possibility -- for this team.

After a 1-4 start in Big East play, that dream seemed to be fading fast.

But Jeremy Hazell, Jordan Theodore and Keon Lawrence breathed new life into the Pirates' postseason hopes Thursday by combining for 52 points as Seton Hall held off Louisville, 80-77, in an ESPN game at the Prudential Center.

"This is the Big East, so every win contributes to going to the tournament and every loss contributes to not going to the tournament, so it's kind of hard to distinguish if this game was that game that we must win. I think we need to win them all," said Seton Hall forward Herb Pope, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.

To be sure, this isn't the same Louisville team that last year won the Big East regular season and tournament titles and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAAs. Earl Clark and Terrence Williams are off to the NBA, and the Pirates held Louisville's best remaining player, Samardo Samuels, to nine points and six rebounds.

Still, Seton Hall (11-6, 2-4) can now claim quality wins over Cornell, Cincinnati and Louisville (12-7, 3-3), with a terrific opportunity coming on Sunday against No. 9 Pittsburgh when the rest of the New York metropolitan area will be focused on the Jets-Colts AFC Championship game.

Assuming Seton Hall needs 20 wins to make the Big Dance, they would have to go 8-4 through the final 12 conference games to finish 19-10 and then add at least one Big East tournament victory. Obviously, if they go 7-5 and finish 9-9 in the league (and 18-11 overall), they would need to make a run at the Garden.

For now, the Pirates are happy to have escaped this one.

They seized a 10-point halftime advantage and led by 13 points with 4:41 remaining but nearly gave the game away. Louisville rattled off an 18-7 run thanks to several Pirate turnovers and closed to within 79-77 on a 3-pointer from Jerry Smith with 3 seconds remaining.

After some late-game craziness in which the Pirates nearly gave it away, Hazell iced the game with 1 of 2 foul shots with .1 second left.

A volume shooter who had launched 169 3-pointers coming into the game, Hazell was criticized for finishing with 17 points, 0 rebounds and 0 assists in the loss to Georgetown Jan. 14.

Motivated by the criticism after that game, he tallied an efficient 25 points on 9-for-12 shooting, five rebounds, two steals and two assists.

"Everybody knows I'm a scorer so I had to come in and contribute in other ways to help my team win, like playing defense, getting rebounds, assists and I did that today," he said.

Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez opted to start Lawrence and Theodore together in the backcourt and it paid off. Theodore, the former Paterson Catholic star, finished with 17 points and four assists.

Hazell said he benefitted from having two quick guards on the floor who can penetrate and dish.

"Those are two great guards, they both can penetrate the zone, they both can shoot, so that just takes a lot of pressure off me. They were getting in there and they were forgetting about me and I was making open shots, so it just felt great that I didn't have to work as hard," he said.

Before the game, The Star-Ledger reported that Lawrence, 22, had been charged with assault-by-auto and driving with a suspended license in a wrong-way crash on the Garden State Parkway in November.

He turned himself into New Jersey State Police and bail was set at $25,000 in Sayreville Borough Municipal Court. Lawrence's attorney, Clifford Minor, posted bail and he was released pending a future court date.

Gonzalez said he thought this latest development would free Lawrence up to play better ball going forward.

"It was really just a formality today but I do think that because it's moving in the right direction, hopefully eventually it will be cleared up and then that will be better for him mentally," Gonzalez said.

After being charged, the Missouri transfer went out and played one of his best games of the season, finishing with 10 points while playing off the ball instead of at point guard. After a brief experiment playing Lawrence at the point, Gonzalez said he will now play strictly off the ball.

"If Keon Lawrence makes a couple shots, it changes our team," Gonzalez said. "Because now all of a sudden, here's a guy who can defend, he's quick. And now all of a sudden they have to worry about him and Jeremy."

Seton Hall must now turn around and play a Pittsburgh team coming off a tough loss to Georgetown.

But if the Pirates want to keep dreaming of the Dance, they will have to keep winning at home.

"It's never easy," Gonzalez said. "This conference is never easy."