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Cotton Continues Dominant Play in DePaul Win

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Whatever Providence needs, Bryce Cotton is providing. On Saturday afternoon the senior star continued his torrid pace, matching his season high with 28 points on 9-15 shooting. Add in six assists and 11 attempts from the free throw line, and it was just another day’s work for Providence best player since Ryan Gomes.

The Friars never trailed in their 77-72 win at DePaul, but that didn’t mean there weren’t uncomfortable moments. Those were the times when Cotton stepped up most.

A 10-0 DePaul run that began just before halftime and extended into the opening minutes of the second half helped cut a 15 point PC lead to just one, but Cotton kept Oliver Purnell’s team at bay by scoring the game’s next five points: a free throw, layup and a steal and conversion.

With under six minutes remaining, DePaul once again fought back, cutting the Providence lead to just two. Cotton countered with a big shot — this one a three pointer to push the lead to 67-62.

Cotton closed by scoring seven points over the final minute, finishing with 17 in the second half.

The senior wasn’t alone on a night in which PC made 53% of their shots and held DePaul to 41% on the other end. Tyler Harris rebounded well from a 1-10 shooting night at Marquette, specifically in the first half in which he stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, three rebounds, two assists, two three pointers, a block and a steal. Harris went 4-5 in the first half and finished the day with 18 points on 5-7 from the field and 6-6 at the foul line.

LaDontae Henton continued his terrific play with 19 points, seven rebounds, two steals and a block in 40 minutes. Henton is currently top five in the Big East in rebounding and top 10 in scoring in conference games.

Defensively, PC blocked nine shots with Josh Fortune being credited for two (although he had a third in the second half). Notably, he’d entered the game without a blocked shot this season, and he caught big men from behind on three occasions.

The Friars lead the league in three point field goal percentage defense, but uncharacteristically leaked on Saturday, with the Blue Demons making 8-20 from 3, with mostly unknown players like freshman RJ Currington, Edwind McGee and Forrest Robinson combining for all eight. DePaul had to go deep as two of their top three players, Cleveland Melvin (suspension) and Billy Garrett (illness) sat this one out, but the Currington/McGree/Robinson trio stepped in admirably.

With the win Providence improves to 16-6 on the season and 6-3 in conference play with a suddenly hot St. John’s team coming to the Dunk on Tuesday.

PC has legitimate tournament hopes with nine games left in the season, thanks in large part to the consistently outstanding play of Cotton who continues to lead the conference in assists, while averaging over 22 points per game in Big East contests. He’s scored at least 20 points in every Big East game, with the exception of the victory over Butler in which he finished with 18.

Henton continues to emerge as this team’s second option. He’s scored in double figures in every Big East game, scored 17 or more in six of nine conference games, and has shot over 50% in the last four. When Henton and Harris score like they did against DePaul, the Friars can even survive the foul trouble that caught Kadeem Batts and Carson Desrosiers on Saturday.

Now third in the Big East, PC has four home games and five on the road to improve on their tournament resume. As of Saturday night, Providence’s RPI is #33 in the nation (per RPI Forecast).

It’s shaping up to be a fun ride in Friartown.

 

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

Twitter: KevinFarrahar

 

 

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