Friar Basketball

How the Core of Six Pulled it Out in Queens

HarrisSJU

“Everybody made a big play.”

Ed Cooley said it best. On a night in which their shots weren’t falling (LaDontae Henton went 6-17, Kadeem Batts 3-10, and Bryce Cotton 6-19 from the field) Providence found a way to win as their core of six took turns making critical plays on Thursday night.

Spreading it Around Early

The Friars started on a 16-4 run with six different players scoring during the spurt. Cotton, Tyler Harris and Henton made three pointers, Batts got to the free throw line and Carson Desrosiers flashed the 16 footer not seen from him in recent weeks.

Then it was Batts’ turn to take over. It wasn’t the senior power forward’s prettiest performance, but in a season in which he has forced the issue and gotten frustrated at times when his mid-range jumper wasn’t working, Batts put his head down and created a solid performance for himself.

Despite making just one of his first six shots, Batts took 12 free throws over the game’s first 32 minutes, while keeping the Friars afloat as St. John’s made a run late in the first half that carried over into the second (a 13 point lead late in the first was quickly cut to three in the opening 1:30 of the second half).

Foul trouble kept Batts from having a bigger statistical night, but his 17/9 performance was his second solid showing in a row after scoring 21 in last week’s win over Georgetown. Perhaps most encouraging has been his mentality — the big man has taken 24 foul shots over the past two games.

Providence is now 6-0 when Batts scored 15 points or more this season.

Forgotten Impact of Henton, Harris and Fortune

Had St. John’s not gone on a run over the final five minutes to take a late lead Henton may have been the player of the game.

He made three key shots down the stretch: a layup through two defenders to snap a 50-50 tie with just under nine minutes left, what looked to be a game-opening three pointer two minutes later (which gave PC a 59-53 advantage), and another layup at 2:45 to tie the game at 65 after St. John’s had just taken their first lead since it was 2-0.

Tyler Harris had a few “Tyler dribbles into traffic” moments, but scored an efficient 18 points on 6-9 shooting. More importantly, the slender forward yanked down a rebound with a second left in the second overtime to seal the victory — the type of rebound PC didn’t get against Massachusetts in late-December.

Josh Fortune struggled for much of the night, but gave Providence 50 minutes, and was largely responsible for keeping St. John’s leading scorer, D’Angelo Harrison, without a field goal for the game’s first 36 minutes.

And when it looked like the Johnnies were taking over early in the first overtime, Fortune knocked down his only three ball of the night to tie the game with 3:56 to go.

Cotton the Closer

Then there’s Cotton. Two seasons ago, limiting him to 1-8 from three point range would have been enough to take him out of the game altogether. Not any longer.

Now a senior, Cotton is capable of beating teams on a 6-19/1-8 evening. His stat line is as thick as it’s been all season: 21 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, but it was his play in the overtime sessions that put PC over the top.

Things were slipping away from PC late in the first overtime. Cotton had played nearly 45 minutes without a rest and ripped his way into the paint for a contested eight footer in traffic with two minutes left — St. John’s by one. Cotton rebounded a Red Storm miss on the next possession, drew a foul and tied the game with a free throw. Matched up with Harrison on the game’s final possession, Cotton forced the explosive scorer into a difficult shot and it was off to double OT.

St. John’s four point lead with just 1:28 left was cut to one after a pair of Harris free throws with 21 seconds left — setting up Cotton’s big close.

He forced a jump ball with possession being awarded to PC on the inbounds pass, and then he hit perhaps the biggest shot of the season when he was bumped and scored with eight seconds to go for the game winner.

Yes, Cotton was the hero late, and with each passing game he’s further cementing himself as one of the best guards to don the Black and White, but in a game that was part grind, part hold on for dear life, and eventually a swing back with everything you’ve got affair, the core of six battled through 50 minutes against a deeper team to pull out a solid road victory.

 

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