Late tip helps Providence hold off No. 10 Villanova
No. 10 Villanova is limping into the postseason with a thirdstring point guard and a bit of a road slump.
David Duke and Nate Watson scored 20 points apiece, and Duke outjumped his taller teammate and four Wildcats to tip in the game-winner with 2.8 seconds left on Saturday as Providence held on after blowing a 20-point lead to beat the visiting Big East champions 54-52.
Although the TV broadcast credited the 6-foot-10 Watson with the tiebreaking putback, the box score said it was Duke, a guard who is five inches shorter. Watson said he wasn’t sure — and he didn’t much care.
“I was flying to the glass. We probably both hit it,” Watson said. “I’m just happy it went in.”
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had an open look at a 3-pointer after a long inbounds pass. But the shot hit the front of the rim, and the buzzer sounded before Jermaine Samuels tipped it in.
It was the fourth straight road loss for the Wildcats, who lost point guard Collin Gillespie to a torn MCL on Wednesday and backup Justin Moore to an ankle injury in the first half against the Friars. Coach Jay Wright said Moore’s injury was “pretty severe.”
“Our problem was not missing Collin at the point guard spot,” Wright said. “We definitely had our chances. We had free throws; we had shots at the rim. It just wasn’t meant to be. It’s hard to accept that.”
Noah Horchler had 10 points and 13 rebounds for Providence (13-12, 9-10 Big East), which has won five of their last seven games against ranked teams. Friars coach Ed Cooley said he was ecstatic “to finish off against a quality opponent like Villanova.
“Despite what they didn’t have, they had some great players on the floor,” he said.
Samuels scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half, making back-to-back layups to start a 14-2 run and adding the last five points of the rally that gave the Wildcats (16-5, 11-4) a 50-49 lead with less than three minutes left.
Creighton 93, Butler 73: At Omaha, Neb., Marcus Zegarowski matched his career high with 32 points and No. 14 Creighton closed a difficult week off the court with the win.
The Bluejays (18-7, 14-6 Big East) won for the first time in three games, doing it without head coach Greg McDermott, who is suspended indefinitely for making racially insensitive remarks to his team following a Feb. 27 loss. Assistant coach Alan Huss served as interim head coach against the Bulldogs.
Creighton scored more than 90 points for the sixth time this season and never trailed after the opening four minutes.
Denzel Mahoney scored 15 points, Damien Jefferson added 12 and Christian Bishop had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Chuck Harris had a careerhigh 29 points to lead the Bulldogs (9-14, 8-12), and Bryce Golden matched his career best with 19.
Zegarowski turned in a virtuoso performance in what might have been his final game with the Bluejays.
The junior was 10 of 12 from the field, including 5 of 7 on 3-pointers, and the preseason Big East player of the year came up with the basket Creighton needed when the game looked as though it would tighten in the first half.