Friar finale
PC ends regular season with victory
Ed Cooley’s PC Friars can turn their focus to the postseason after beating St. John’s at the Dunk Saturday afternoon.
PROVIDENCE — The Big East’s reputation wasn’t built on high-scoring, entertaining affairs. Instead, what college basketball fans saw was a steady stream of putyour- fingernails- in- the- dirt performances – like Saturday’s game at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
With Senior Day bliss in the air and NCAA Tournament prospects in need of shoring up, Providence College edged St. John’s, 61-57, because the Friars got their hands dirtier and squeezed out just a few more of the game’s offensive highlights. In fitting fashion, the three scholarship seniors – Kyron Cartwright, Rodney Bullock, and Jalen Lindsey – all made instrumental plays during the final 95 seconds en route to walking off the Dunk court as winners in what they and coach Ed Cooley hope represented the final home game of their careers.
“This was an old-school Big East game. It wasn’t pretty. I thought both teams played hard. It was a rock fight sometimes,” said Cooley. “We found a way to win.”
“I wanted the seniors to go out with a win,” said freshman Nate Watson, who was a major spark with nine second-half points after starter Kalif Young twisted his ankle at the 13:19 mark the first half and did not return. “They’ve really pushed me a lot. Kyron tells me to get into the gym all the time. Jalen tells me to get extra lifts in. I really appreciate what they’ve done for me.”
In a season that’s been anything but smooth, the Friars ended up with double-digit Big East victories for the fifth straight season. Time will tell if that translates into a fifth straight NCAA trip, but the Friars (19-12, 10-8 Big East) firmly remain in the conversation as the scene now shifts to Madison Square Garden and the Big East Tournament. For the Friars, their first game under the bright MSG lights will be Thursday in the quarterfinals. The Big East’s annual Garden party begins Wednesday.
“Now it’s postseason. It’s a one and done deal. Hopefully we can advance,” said Cooley.
In many ways, Saturday’s hardfought win over an undermanned St. John’s outfit epitomized the numerous ebbs and flows that have made this PC season tough to get a proper read on.
There were stretches where the offense was crisp – the Friars hit seven of their first 10 shots to start the second half after shooting 44 percent in the opening half – and nonexistent, which nearly proved costly. The Friars led the Red Storm (15-16, 4-14 Big East) by 13 points (47-34) with the clock approaching nine minutes but only by three (50-47) after a Justin Simon dunk with 3:30 to play.
PC went 6:51 between field goals in the second stanza, though the drought ended in emphatic fashion when Alpha Diallo kicked the ball to Cartwright, who buried a three from the top of the key to put PC up 53-47 with 1:35 remaining.
“I thought that was the game,” said Cooley about Cartwright’s timely make.
The Friar lead stood at five when Cartwright missed a jumper with 41 seconds left, but Lindsey came up with a timely offensive rebound and got fouled. On a day where he once again struggled to find the range, Lindsey helped to punctuate the Senior Day experience with two free throws that put PC up 54-48 with 38 seconds to play.
Another St. John’s basket resulted in another trip to the charity stripe for Providence. This time, it was Bull- ock’s turn to see if he could keep the pressure on the Red Storm. He sank two freebies for a 57-50 lead with now 23 seconds remaining. Diallo contributed to the game-sealing stretch with a 4-for-4 showing at the line that proved handy when Marvin Clark’s three went in with four seconds left. All told, the Friars went 8-of-10 at the foul line in the game’s final minute as they completed a season sweep of the Red Storm.
Bullock and Diallo each finished with 13 points while Cartwright added 10 points. Bullock was just 4-of13 from the field while Cartwright committed an uncharacteristic seven turnovers.
That should tell you just how much of a struggle it was for the Friars, who led by just one (26-25) at halftime and struggled to crack the code as Red Storm controlled the tempo with a slow, methodical pace that enabled their length to really frustrate the Friars. PC turned the ball over 10 times in the first half but only allowed St. John’s to connect at a 34.5-percent clip.
“They slowed the game down and usually we don’t play that slow. They were resilient and fought back, but we came out with the win,” said Lindsey, who totaled four points and five rebounds in 27 minutes.
The start of the second half largely belonged to Watson. He got started by following up a Bullock miss with a dunk, then displayed a nice touch with a turnaround that he kissed off the glass to give the Friars a 40-31 lead. Watson had just three rebounds, though two came on the offensive end with one eventually leading to a Bullock three that put the Friars up 43-30.
“Nate gave us an interior presence in the second half where we were able to get the ball in front of the rim against their length. It was his girth against their length,” said Cooley. “The great thing about Nate is he’s so positive and energetic. He has an incredible spirit about the game whether he plays well or bad. He just moves on. He’s going to be a household name. I love his upside.”
Known mainly as a man-to-man team, the Friars tried to curb the Shamorie Ponds-less Red Storm by mixing in a little zone defense and a three-quarter trap. The results were there as St. John’s turned the ball over 18 times, though PC was guilty of 17 turnovers.
Red Storm guard Justin Simon played all 40 minutes and ended up with 10 turnovers compared to nine assists. Clark netted 11 of his 14 points in the second half while Tariq Owens went from 12 points on two 3-pointers in the first half to zero second-half points on 0-of-2 shooting.
“We wanted to play slow. With the lineup we had, we wanted to play slow and try to keep the score close,” said St. John’s head coach Chris Mullin. “We hung in there and tried to win it at the end.”
At the end of the day, Lindsey and his fellow seniors prevailed on a day where emotions can sometimes get the better of the home team. The Friars are now 6-1 in Senior Day games under Cooley.
“This is a big accomplishment for us to get this far and be here for four years and come out with a win in the last game at The Dunk,” said Lindsey. “We knew what we were playing for … we played for each other, this program, the fans, and Providence College. We came out and did what we had to do.”
RIM RATTLERS: Saturday’s attendance for the regular-season finale was 12,627. This season, the Friars had six games at The Dunk where they drew 12K or better and 10 games where the crowds exceeded 10K. After the game, Cooley got on the microphone and thanked the fans for their season-long support. “The Dunkin’ Donuts Center has been an amazing building this year. Hopefully we continue to sell the building out because our players appreciate it,” said Cooley during his postgame media briefing. … Spotted in the crowd: Governor Gina Raimondo, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, former Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, 2018 PC Friar commit A.J. Reeves, and former Friar players Marcus Douthit, Ted Bancroft, and Carson Desrosiers. … “We are dangerous – to ourselves and the opponent,” said Mullin, who said that Ponds (abdominal strain) wasn’t even close to playing against the Friars. … Cooley on his seniors who were feted, a group that also includes walk-on Tom Planek: “I thought our seniors made some timely shots. There’s been some ups and downs, but they’re all on track to graduate and represent Providence College in a first-class manor.”
Follow Brendan McGair on Twitter @BWMcGair03