Friar Basketball

Friars Bound for Title Game

BETsemis

Shall we dance?

It took Ed Cooley just three years to bring the Friars to the Big East Tournament championship game — thanks to a huge lift from his starting forwards.

LaDontae Henton scored 26 points on an efficient 9-13 shooting and 4-6 from three point range, and cleared the glass with 14 rebounds, while fellow forward Tyler Harris scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half to lead Providence to an 80-74 victory over Seton Hall and an appearance in the Big East’s biggest show.

Cooley has to be thrilled that a coaching change at Dayton in March 2011 led Henton to re-open his recruitment and pledge to PC soon after. He was Cooley’s first commit at Providence and he’s proven to be his best recruit to date. They don’t come much tougher.

Hallbtn

Henton set the tone early in this one and carried PC in the second half. He started the game 4-4 from the field, scoring on four straight possessions in the opening six minutes of the game as Providence raced out to an 11 point advantage early; and when Seton Hall cut that lead to just one in the second half it was Henton who would not be denied.

The Pirates cut the lead to one with 13:27 on the clock, but Harris hit a short jumper and Henton followed with a 3 pointer on the next possession — 51-45 Providence.

Harris scored the game’s next five points (a pair of free throws and a corner 3 – a spot he connected from three times in the game) and the lead was up to nine with 11:00 remaining. Providence wasn’t out of the woods yet.

The Hall kept fighting before Henton threw a pair of haymakers three minutes later. With PC up 58-53 with under 8:30 to go Henton nailed a pair of 3s on consecutive possessions and it was suddenly back to a nine point game again.

Henton’s basket with 56 seconds remaining made it a three possession game that all but sealed it despite some shaky moments over the final 30 seconds.

The Friars are now 22-11 on the season and seem well positioned for an NCAA Tournament berth (their first since 2004) regardless of what happens in the Big East Tournament Championship on Saturday night.

That they’re in this position is a testament to the leadership of Cooley and the will of his players. The Friars may not have the longest depth chart, but they’ve had a variety of different players making huge plays in this tournament.

On Thursday afternoon it was a career high 24 points from Josh Fortune. Tonight Henton gave them a season high 26. Cooley got double figure rebounding nights from four players on Thursday, and won today despite Kadeem Batts and Carson Desrosiers combining to play just 28 minutes before both fouled out.

While Henton was the headliner on Friday and Harris was terrific in the second half, the effort of Brice Kofane (five boards, a block, two free throws in 16 essential minutes off of the bench) and the ability of Cotton to impact games on nights in which his shot isn’t falling (18 points, 10 assists, 5-14 shooting) were critical to this victory.

The Friars’ bench may be short, but their hearts are big. This is a group that just refuses to go home no matter how many times outsiders tell them it’s time to wrap things up.

They’ll look to turn the lights out in Madison Square Garden with their first conference championship since greats like Michael Smith, Dickey Simpkins and Austin Croshere went on a magical run in 1994.

In the meantime they’ve breathed life back into this program.

It’s fun to be a Friar again.

 

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

Twitter: Kevin_Farrahar

 

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