Friar Basketball

Rapid Reaction: PC Defeats Butler

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Hinkle Field House treated the Friars extremely well in their first visit to the campus of Butler University as Providence knocked off the Bulldogs by a score of 87-81. Tonight’s victory gave PC their 8th conference win of the season and now slots them just a half game back of Xavier and Marquette for third place in the Big East.

PC shot the lights out tonight as all five starters finished in double-figures for scoring. As a team, the Friars shot 67% from the floor and poured in 13 jumpers from three point land. Bryce Cotton scored a game high 28 points points in addition to dishing out 6 assists.

After taking a 13 point lead into half time, it seemed like Providence was on track to run Butler out of their own building. As it turned out, that would not be the case.

Butler opened up the second half with a 15-2 run, giving them their first lead since the beginning of the game. Watching his team give up 13 straight points, Ed Cooley made the decision to switch to a 2-3 zone. That defensive change helped slow down Butler’s Kellen Dunham and Khyle Marshall, who both finished with 20+ points.

After Butler made their run to retake the lead, a LaDontae Henton three, with 9:56 to play, shut the door on the now 2-13 Bulldogs. The Friars hit 12 of their final 15 free throws in the contest’s last four minutes to seal the win.

Outside of Cotton’s 28, Josh Fortune converted on 4-5 threes and Brice Kofane played a season high 11 minutes in place of Carson Desrosiers who sat out to due to illness. Perhaps the quietest stat of the night though was Henton’s 7 assists. On top of those 7 dimes, Henton also contributed 15 points and 4 rebounds.

Next on the schedule for PC is a date with Seton Hall on Friday night.

Email Craig – craig.belhumeur@friarbasketball.com
Craig on Twitter – @Craig_Belhumeur

 

 

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