Young Friars show potential
KINGSTON – Down in the second half and seemingly on the verge of major trouble at an unbelievably loud Ryan Center on Saturday night, the Providence Friars turned to their point guard with the hope he could save the day against rival Rhode Island.
In a surprising twist, it wasn’t the usual catalyst who nearly led the Friars back from the brink.
The Rams set out to neutralize Kyron Cartwright, and the defending Atlantic 10 Tournament champs succeeded by holding the senior floor general in check. Cartwright managed just one field on seven attempts and handed out four assists as Providence fell to URI, 75-68.
Luckily for Ed Cooley, the PC head coach had another point guard up his sleeve. Freshman Makai AshtonLangford put the Friars on his back and almost single-handily extended Providence’s recent run of dominance over URI to eight straight seasons. The Worcester native pumped in nine of his career-high 12 points after halftime. His six rebounds and nine trips to the foul suggested that he had no concern with throwing around his 6-3, 185-pound frame.
After last Wednesday’s game against Rider, Cooley noted that he needed to find more minutes for AshtonLangford, who at times looked the part of a wide-eyed freshman in what was a pressure cooker of a college basketball environment. On the whole, his outing against the Rams suggests that it may be time to put even more on his plate, which Cooley did down the stretch on a day when Cartwright couldn’t get anything going.
“We like to put our freshmen in these tough early-season environments to get them ready for Big East play,” said Cooley. “I thought he answered the bell. There were a couple of mistakes, but I was very happy with what he brought to the table.”
Cooley pretty much placed the fate of the Friars in Ashton-Langford’s hands with 11:51 remaining and the Rams up nine (54-45). Coming out of a timeout, Cartwright was on the bench while AshtonLangford returned to the court. Cartwright reported back in at the 10:53 mark, yet it was clear that PC’s point-guard pendulum had shifted from a battle-tested senior to a freshman who showed no fear down the stretch.
The biggest impact registered by Ashton-Langford wasn’t the back-to-back layups that kept PC’s deficit at five (62-57) with just over six minutes left. Taking a page out of Cartwright’s playbook, the first-year Friar rebounded a miss, pushed the tempo to the point where he got into the paint, then kicked the ball out to the wing. Jalen Lindsey took the Ashton-Langford feed and buried a three that cut URI’s lead to three (65-62) with 3:49 remaining.
Ashton-Langford nailed a tough 15-foot fadeaway jumper that once again kept PC’s deficit at three (67-64). He did miss five free throws, including a 1-and-1 with the Friars down six (65-59) with 4:43 left, and ended up fouling out with 69 seconds left. Based on the entire body of work, the Friars have a capable second-string point guard who’s able to fill the void on days when Cartwright doesn’t have it.
“You knew that Ed was going to get in his ear and get him downhill by driving the ball,” said URI head coach Dan Hurley about AshtonLangford. “There’s a reason why the kid was rated as high as he was in high school. He’s going to be a real problem for us and the Big East down the line. He’s got great size and is so hard to keep out of the lane. Just a tough, competitive kid.”
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URI senior point guard Jarvis Garrett got his revenge on Cartwright, whose lone field goal didn’t come until the game was in the Rams’ grasp. Cartwright hit a layup with 45 seconds left that brought the Friars to with six (72-66).
“I thought Kyron guarded himself today,” said Cooley, who as PC’s head coach lost for the first time in seven tries against URI. “He’ll bounce back. He didn’t have one of his better games, but he’ll bounce back.”
The final indicator that it wasn’t Cartwright’s day came when he missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with three minutes left. The two points he scored pales in comparison to the lift that URI got from Garrett, who had 15 points on 3-of-5 shooting from three. That stat line was very similar to what Cartwright produced against Rhode Island last December (19 points, four threes, eight assists).
“Jarvis wasn’t his best at The Dunk last year, but he dominated his matchup against Cartwright,” said Hurley. “That was huge.”
Garrett’s finishing touch was a jumper that put the Rams up five (69-65) with 2:29 left.
“The first practice after our last game, I knew that things would be different. I wanted that matchup so bad,” said Garrett. “(Cartwright) got me last year, and I didn’t want that to happen again.”
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PC’s Cooley and URI’s Hurley were asked to size up the rivalry in a national context for those who aren’t well versed in what this annual contest means to the state.
“There’s plenty of people in Rhode Island who are excited about the game and they should be. It’s two high-level teams with great expectations,” said Cooley. “It’s a good game. Is it a game I look forward to? Not at all. We play these highlevel games every time in the Big East.”
Hurley stated he was still getting ticket requests and suggestions on how to beat the Friars as late as Saturday morning.
“This game takes on a life of its own,” Hurley said. “It’s fun and exciting and probably the biggest event in the state on a yearly basis. It’s super stressful for myself and Ed, but I love it.”