Shot in the arm
Providence survives No. 10 Villanova’s comeback bid Saturday at Alumni Hall
Friar basketball history of the dubious kind wasn’t going to repeat itself, was it?
Mercifully for Ed Cooley and his players, no. Providence will head to the Big East Tournament with some confidence after holding on for a 52-50 rock fight of a win against No. 10 (and shorthanded) Villanova in Saturday’s regular-season finale.
The Friars led by 16 at halftime and were up 11 with 10 minutes remaining when painful memories resurfaced from Wednesday’s second-half meltdown at St. John’s. Like the Red Storm, the Wildcats succeeded in erasing a double-digit deficit at the break. With both members of its starting backcourt sidelined, Villanova fought back to take a onepoint lead with 2:22 remaining.
When St. John’s caught PC on Wednesday, the Red Storm embarrassingly tore through the Friars to emerge with an 81-67 win. On Saturday, Providence (13-12, 9-10 Big East) made just enough winning plays to avoid what would have been the latest bitter pill to swallow.
David Duke received credit for a tip-in off a Jared Bynum miss with 2.8 seconds remaining, then the Friars survived a final
sequence where Villanova (165, 11-4 Big East) still managed to get a clean look at a potential game-winning three despite having to go the entire length of the court. The ball ended up in the hands of Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, who received enough room to operate after PC senior Nate Watson gambled and came up empty.
The three-ball bid bounced the Friars’ way, meaning it did not nestle through the net.
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” said Watson. “I was praying to God that he did not make that.”
Added Cooley, “We needed Divine Providence at its best. We needed everything possible to go our way and it did. I was nervous, though, trust me.”
As for squandering a big lead and doing the opposite of the St. John’s game, i.e. holding on for dear life, Cooley said, “I was proud of the physicality that our players exerted. Regardless of who they have on the floor, (Villanova) plays the same style. Obviously, it’s been an up-and-down year, but to finish off against a quality opponent, I’m happy for our players.”
Potentially appearing in his final home game in a Friar uniform, Watson scored 20 points on 8-of13 shooting. He shared co-scoring honors with Duke, whose 20 points came 8-of-21 from the field. Noah Horchler is another senior who may have stepped on the home floor for the last time. He finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
“Me and Nate have talked about it, but we’re going to wait until after the season to really take it into consideration,” said Horchler when asked about possibly returning next year.
With Colin Gillespie unavailable (season-ending knee injury) and Justin Moore done after 12 minutes after sustaining an ankle injury, Villanova tried to weather the storm as best as possible. A long afternoon for Jay Wright’s crew seemed in the offing after PC shot a blistering 62 percent during the opening 20 minutes.
“I thought our mindset and physicality … when you play Villanova, you better have a hard hat on. You’ve got to play through contact,” said Cooley, noting that his vote for Big East Player of the Year went to Gillespie.
The door was opened considerably for a Villanova comeback after the Friars opened the second half in a 3-for-21 shooting rut. Cooley called a timeout after the Wildcats netted layups on back-toback possessions to begin the latter 20 minutes, yet the nightmare only grew worse before things improved.
Duke tied the game at 50-50 after going 1-of-2 at the line. He then came through on a floating spin move that put the Friars up a duce with 61 seconds remaining. Villanova had a chance to tie, but Brandon Slater bricked both free throws with 35.7 seconds left.
The Wildcats were still alive after Watson missed a 1-and-1. Jermaine Samuels (team-high 21 points) drew a foul and made both freebies to tie the game at 52-52 with 15.8 seconds remaining. Instead of calling a timeout, Cooley let his squad press forward. Bynum took advantage of a mismatch against Chris Arcidiacono and got off a short jumper that Duke cleaned up for what proved to be the deciding points.
The Friars shot 21 percent (629, 1-9 from three) in the second half. PC is locked into playing on the first day when the Big East Tournament opens for business on Wednesday.