Friars battle Bulldogs
Bentil powers PC past Big East rival at the Dunk
PROVIDENCE – Say this about Kris Dunn: the Providence junior never allows himself to become completely unhinged when he’s in the midst of a rough night at the office.
For most of last night’s game against No 18 Butler, Dunn was the definition of the invisible man. Foul trouble par- tially tells the story, yet when he was on the floor, Dunn was anything but Dunnlike. Luckily for the Friars, their superstar flipped the switch at the right time and helped deliver his team to a muchneeded win.
Look at Providence’s game-ending 11-4 run and Dunn’s imprints were all over it. He did what all projected NBA lottery picks are supposed to do when the game’s hanging in the balance. He took over and helped lift No. 16 PC to a 71-68 victory that helped a complete a two-game sweep of Butler.
Dunn’s final stat line reads like this: nine points of 2-of-6 shooting, five rebounds, seven assists, and four turnovers. He only had three points next to his name with five minutes remaining and Butler enjoying a 64-60 lead.
The stretch run was when the real Dunn surfaced. He delivered an onpoint pass that enabled Ben Bentil to easily dunk the ball at a time when quick judgment was needed. It was a two-pointer that put the Friars (16-3, 4-2 Big East) up 68-66 with 1:59 remaining.
“I knew (Dunn) was going to make a play,” said Bentil, who led the Friars with 20 points and seven rebounds.
After a Butler turnover where Kelan Martin threw the ball in the direction of PC head coach Ed Cooley, the Friars went on the offensive with the hope of gaining some breathing room. With Cooley motioning to Dunn that taking some time off the clock was perfectly fine, the player calmly dribbled to the top of the key and let fly a shot that banked off the glass and in to give Providence a five-point lead with a minute left.
“Sometimes Christmas comes early in January,” smiled Cooley. “That was the biggest basket of the game.”
The Friars’ final challenge called for them to survive a Dunn turnover with 13 seconds left and the lead down to three. Butler (13-5, 2-4 Big East) had two cracks at a potential game-tying shot, but neither bid dropped with Bentil grabbing the board as time expired.
“I thought that was a great Big East game,” said Cooley, who singled out the crowd several times during his postgame address. The Friars drew 10,918 and now have gone over the 10,000 mark in all three of their league home games.
Rodney Bullock followed up his 25-point, 10-rebound performance against Butler on New Year’s Eve with 16 points and eight rebounds. Kyron Cartwright added 13 points with six coming on back-to-back threes late in the first half.
Butler’s Kellen Dunham led all scorers with 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting from three while Roosevelt Jones had 16 points. Portsmouth native Andrew Charabascz endured a tough night back in his home state (six points on 2-of-7 shooting).
Neither PC’s Dunn nor Butler’s Jones was part of the first half major storyline. That honor belonged to the slew of whistles that helped slow the game to a virtual crawl. Twenty-two fouls were called with both teams combining to shoot 22 free throws.
The body count on the Friars’ side was staggering as Dunn, Bullock, Junior Lomomba and Drew Edwards each had two fouls by halftime. Dunn picked up his third foul with not even five minutes gone by in the second half, thus leaving Cooley with the same dilemma that confronted his Friars during last Saturday’s game against Seton Hall – how to preserve the team’s best player for the stretch while making sure the game doesn’t completely slip away.
Of course given Dunn’s struggles – he had just three points with 10 minutes left – the Friars had to be thanking their lucky stars that they were even with the Bulldogs. In between Bentil hitting two free throws that tied the game and Bullock supplying a hoop that put PC up 56-54 with 8:48 remaining, Dunn slammed the breaks on two possessions with decisions not behooving of an All-America candidate.
First, Dunn left fly a 25-footer that came after Edwards secured an offensive rebound. PC got another crack, but Dunn ended up throwing a pass into the front row.
In the end, Dunn brushed past the tough times and helped put the breaks on a two-game losing streak at The Dunk. PC shot 42-percent from the field, though that number wouldn’t look as grizzly had the home team made a couple more threes (just 5-of22 from deep).
RIM RATTLERS: There was a switch in the PC starting lineup with Cartwright taking the place previously held by Jalen Lindsey. It was Cartwright’s third starting nod of the season and his 11th in two years at Providence. … Ironically, the last matchup at The Dunk involving two top-25 teams featured the Friars hosting the same Bulldogs. It was last March 7 with No. 21 Butler defeating No. 24 Providence, 68-64. … Quadree Smith participated in pregame shootaround but did not see any action. The freshman, who wasn’t wearing a cast, has now missed six straight games since breaking his hand right before the start of Big East play.