Seton Hall basketball star Jeremy Hazell reveals in an exclusive interview the pain he felt when a bandit's bullet pierced his body as he fled a stickup.

"I knew I got shot," he told the Daily News Monday. "I felt it, but I just kept running."

"It was scary," the senior guard said of his run-in with four men at the Carver Houses on E. 104th St. early Sunday.

"I didn't know these guys - never saw them before. They just tried to rob me. I never knew something like this could happen to me."

Hazell, 24, says he was walking home from a friend's Christmas party when the robbers approached.

"I just got to the front door of my building when these four dudes came up to me," said Hazell, who has been sidelined since breaking a bone in his left wrist in a game last month.

"One of them had a hand in his pocket and told me to sit down on this bench. I didn't want to, and he said if I didn't he was going to shoot me."

Hazell said he pushed the robber in the chest - and made a real-life fast break.

He said he heard the thug squeeze off four shots as he bolted toward E. 105th St.

One of the slugs penetrated his side, just below his armpit, and then exited his body.

Hazell said that when he got to the corner of E. 105th St. and Park Ave., he flagged down a passing FDNY ambulance.

"They worked on me there and then took me to the hospital," he said.

He said he was treated at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and then released.

Police said they are investigating. No arrests have been made.

Seton Hall hoops coach Kevin Willard said he didn't learn his star player was shot until after the Pirates lost 69-61 to Richmond on Sunday afternoon.

Hazell had gotten permission to skip the game to spend Christmas with his family.

"We're all thankful Jeremy is okay," the first-year coach said. "You hear news like that and the first thing you think is, 'How bad is it?'"

The shooting capped a frustrating stretch for the lanky, 6-foot-5 NBA hopeful. Hazell chose to return to Seton Hall for his senior season rather than pursue a big-money pro contract.

"I just feel very lucky, very blessed," he said.

He had surgery Dec. 2 and was expected to miss up to six weeks - but now he could be out for the rest of the season.

Be Strong And Don't Let these Streets Get The Best Of You

Jeremy Hazell  #21  G

2010-11 STATS
PPG	APG	3P%	RPG	BPG	SPG
24	1.7	.647	2	0.3	2.3

Birth Place

Harlem, NY

Height

6-5

Weight

188 lbs.

Position

G

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Jeremy Hazell was shot in the back early yesterday during a fracas outside his Harlem home, police said.

Hazell, 24, a 6-foot-5 senior who opted to remain in school this year instead of entering the NBA draft before graduating, suffered a minor gunshot wound after an argument outside the Carver Houses along East 104th Street, officials said.

According to cops, Hazell, who has been on the shelf with a wrist injury since November, was hanging out with several people shortly before 3 a.m. when an argument turned violent. There were no arrests. 

It was not immediately clear whether Hazell knew the assailant.

Hazell spent much of the day holed up with relatives in his Harlem apartment, where detectives came to investigate.

Hazell was shot in the lower back on the right side. He was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital, where he was treated and released.

A relative who answered the door at Hazell's apartment yesterday afternoon declined to comment.

Hazell underwent surgery earlier this month to repair a broken bone in his left wrist, which he fractured on Nov. 19 during Seton Hall's victory over Alabama in the US Virgin Islands Paradise Jam.

The shooting guard had scored a game-high 27 points in that contest and had averaged 24 points for first three games of the season.

Hazell was expected to miss four to six weeks because of the wrist injury.

The Seton Hall Pirates lost yesterday, 69-61, to Richmond at Newark's Prudential Center. Coaches mentioned the team's need to find other offensive options in Hazell's absence but said nothing about the shooting.

"There's a pretty good chance he might not come back this year," said Coach Kevin Willard in his post-game comments, apparently before he found out about the shooting.

Matt Sweeney, a team spokesman, said players and coaches did not know about the shooting until well after the game.

"We're still gathering details," Sweeney said.

Sweeney said players and coaches were relieved to learn that Hazell's injuries from the shooting were not life-threatening.

It was unclear how Hazell's latest injury would affect the timetable for his return to the basketball court.

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