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Rapid Reaction: PC Wins in 2OT at St. John’s

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Rapid Reaction to Providence’s 84-83 victory over St. John’s in double-overtime

How the game was won: With just under 10 seconds left in double-overtime PC found themselves looking at a one point deficit until Bryce Cotton saved the game for the Friars. While getting fouled, Cotton converted on a difficult runner which gave the lead back to Providence with 9.8 seconds left to play. The remaining seconds of the contest gave way to a missed layup by St. John’s Phil Greene which sealed the win for Providence.

Cotton is a warrior: On this night, Ed Cooley’s team was finally able to win a nail biter. Having lost several close games this season, as well as many in the past, fans have grown to doubt the Friars in tight games, and reasonably so. Tonight, though, Bryce Cotton wouldn’t let that happen again. The senior guard never got a breather against the Johnnies, playing all 50 minutes while scoring a game high 21 points. Cotton was just 1 rebound and 2 assists shy of recording a triple double. After the game Ed Cooley was asked if he was concerned about the type of minutes that Cotton is playing and Cooley responded, “Right now I don’t even think about subbing him. That’s not in my mind. He’s in great shape. He doesn’t think about coming out, so I expect that from him.”

PC From the charity stripe: Once again the free throw line is the Friars best friend as PC shot 30-36 from the line to St. John’s mark of 20-24. Kadeem Batts attempted 12 free throws, connecting on all but one of them. Providence remains the top free throw shooting team in the country, shooting a hair under 80%.

Four Friars Score 17 or More: Cotton, Batts, Tyler Harris and LaDontae Henton all contributed at least 17 points in tonight’s win. Henton and Batts both fell one rebound shy of a double-double.

No sign of Kris Dunn: As reported by the Providence Journal’s Kevin McNamara, the Providence College coaching staff expects Dunn back on campus next week as he has been back in his hometown of New London, CT healing from his season ending shoulder surgery and grieving the death of his Mother a few weeks ago.

Depressing Times in Queens: Falling to Providence sends St. John’s to 0-5 to begin Big East play. To their credit, they have played a difficult set of games to begin the conference portion of their schedule but I doubt anybody saw this type of performance coming.  Steve Lavin has plenty of talent but doesn’t seem to know how to utilize it all. Former PC recruit, Chris Obekpa, who is a shot blocking machine, played just 1 minute in the second half. The Red Storm leading scorer, D’Angelo Harrison, finished with 14 points in tonight’s loss but didn’t score his first bucket until the 3:28 mark in the second half. If St. John’s doesn’t turn things around quickly, Lavin could find himself jobless at season’s end, Johnnies fans have just about had enough.

What tonight’s win means: Providence now sits at 12-5 on the year and 2-2 to begin conference play after two consecutive wins over Georgetown and St. John’s. They now face a tough turnaround time because Doug McDermott and the Creighton Blue Jays will make their first stop at the Dunkin Donuts Center on Saturday night. Kadeem Batts has seemingly found his groove again, scoring 17 and 21 in each of PC’s last two victories. When Batts plays well, it certainly makes a difference for this Friars team.

Below you will find the post game press conference video of Ed Cooley:

One Comment

  1. Friars93

    January 17, 2014 at 8:32 am

    At this point, we have about the record we could expect. My biggest disappointment is Brendan Austin bailing on his team. BUT I am liking the way this depleted team fights and is bonding.

    We’ll be in every game. Let’s GO…

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