Mop up work for Friars
PC game vs. Seton Hall halted early in second half
Game is halted due to moisture on court
PROVIDENCE – Dealing with a Seton Hall squad that had the host Providence Friars on the run was tough enough.
Dealing with unseasonably warm weather, plus heavy humidity, proved to be an ill-timed disaster for another big Friar crowd at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center that won’t see the final 13:03. At the time, the Pirates were up 56-47.
Yes, it was a smart decision to suspend Wednesday’s game due to slippery floor conditions that were announced as unplayable. The fallout from making an easy call is that the game’s conclusion shifts to the on-campus Alumni Hall, which only seats 1,800, for a noontime resumption on Thursday. The contest will be only available to Providence College students, faculty and staff. PC announced that a policy on the tickets from Wednesday’s game will be announced at a later date.
The game was stopped by the game officials – Tim Clougherty, Jeff Anderson, and James Breeding. Per NCAA rules, officials have control to stop a game once it starts.
“You’ve got to do it,” said Seton Hall Kevin Willard, who endured the loss of one his key players after senior guard Desi Rodriguez slipped and rolled his ankle near the PC bench with 3:48 left in the first half. “You can’t roll the dice. What if (PC senior point guard) Kyron Cartwright is pushing on the break, tries to stutter step, and blows out his knee?”
As is standard practice at The Dunk, the hardwood surface sits on top of a sheet of ice. Larry Lapore, general manager of the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, said that steps were taken to prevent Wednesday’s temperatures from creating tough sledding for the Friars and Pirates. The garage doors that typically remain open as the television crew sets up remained shut, a lesson learned from last February’s slip-andslide affair in Providence between PC and Marquette.
“At game time, the floor was perfect,” said Lapore. “Where I disagree with the officials is that if it was condensation, it wouldn’t have happened that rapidly.”
Lapore said the overnight temperature at The Dunk was lowered to 67 degrees, as there was a definite chill in the building as fans arrived.
“Is there a fix?” said Lapore. “There’s dehumidifiers, but they’re probably $5 million. I don’t know if you can retrofit our system with it. It wasn’t done in the [2008] renovation because the engineers didn’t think it was practical.”
It didn’t take long to reach a final decision to bring the two teams back to the court for a noontime tip in a different locale after play was stopped. After the officials huddled up with Seton Hall’s Willard and PC coach Ed Cooley, the conversation then included Providence athletic director Bob Driscoll and Big East associate commissioner Stu Jackson, who just happened to be in attendance.
Much to the disappointment of the crowd, they were told there would be no more basketball the rest of the evening.
“It’s a really unfortunate set of circumstances, but it’s the right decision” said PC athletic director Bob Driscoll. “I feel bad that the young man from Seton Hall was hurt.”
Along those lines, Driscoll said the Friars were scheduled to depart for Washington, D.C. in advance of Saturday’s noon game at Georgetown at 5 p.m. Thursday. Seton Hall is scheduled to play St. John’s on Saturday.
“It’s a game with major Big East ramifications, but we have to make the best of it,” said Driscoll.
Jackson said he met with the officials at halftime where the nature of how Seton Hall’s Rodrigues got hurt was discussed.
“At that point, the referees said that spot [where Rodrigues] went down was the only slip- pery spot,” said Jackson. “They were pretty firm that the game couldn’t continue. The decision was made to play the game in a timely fashion. We are dealing with student-athletes and dealing with potentially missing multiple days of school.”
As for the game, PC jumped out to a 22-17 lead before those dreaded scoring woes resurfaced. This particular period of inactiv- ity encompassed four minutes, four seconds and saw the Friars miss six straight shots before Isaiah Jackson swished a three that snapped a 10-0 run for the Pirates.
Had Cartwright not hit a turnaround jumper and drew a foul with five-tenths of a second left, PC would have had more work to do as opposed to trailing by just five (39-34) at the break. The Friars missed seven of their first nine shots to start the second half and was shooting 40.5 percent when the action stopped.
Seton Hall’s Myles Powell was leading all scorers with 16 points. Cartwright and Alpha Diallo each had 10 points for the Friars.