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LaDontae Henton on a Mission

Henton Hall

Ed Cooley kept it pretty simple after Providence grinded out a 69-62 victory over Seton Hall on Saturday night, “Our team goes the way he (LaDontae Henton) and Kris Dunn go. When they’re good, we’re good. When they’re bad, we’re bad. It’s really that simple.”

Fortunately for Providence, Dunn and Henton haven’t been bad very often this season.

Providence did have to go without Dunn for a six minute stretch mid-way through the second half after the star point guard picked up his fourth foul with 12:24 left and PC leading 32-25.

The Friars scored just one field goal with Dunn on the bench, and by the time he returned Seton Hall had tied the game.

Foul trouble was seemingly the only thing that could slow Dunn in the second half. He seemed primed to take this game over as he has done so often this season. After Seton Hall went on a 8-0 to cut Providence’s nine point lead to just two with under 17 minutes remaining, Dunn went to work. He made three straight shots — a difficult layup and two more baskets off of his own steals to push PC back up 40-32.

But Dunn’s foul trouble had sapped Providence of their offensive cohesion and with under six minutes to play the Friars trailed by a point.

That’s when LaDontae Henton went to work, sparking an 8-2 Providence run with a transition three pointer (a break started by a Henton block at the rim) followed up with a traditional three point play 40 seconds later.

Providence led 55-50 after that spurt and would never trail again.

The power of having a pair of superstars was once again on display.

Providence hadn’t played poorly during a four game stretch in which they’d gone 1-3 heading into this one, but a home loss to reeling Seton Hall would have at least raised questions about this team heading down the stretch.

Dunn and Henton eliminated those questions, as Providence is now 18-8 on the season, 8-5 in the Big East, with an RPI of 21 nationally with five regular season games left on their schedule.

Henton finished with 22 points and nine rebounds, Dunn had 19/8/6, and Tyler Harris provided a lift with 10 points, seven rebounds and a critical jump shot with just over two minutes left in the game.

“LaDontae is on a mission to become one of the few players in the history of this school to be a 2,000 point scorer and a 1,000 rebound guy,” said Cooley afterwards. Ryan Gomes is the only Friar to accomplish the feat and Henton is now under 100 points and 30 rebounds away.

“That is an incredible accomplishment, but that is all wasted if you’re aren’t winning, in my opinion. It’s all about winning, we don’t care about statistics.”

The Friars are winning — and they have positioned themselves perfectly to make their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

Twitter: Kevin_Farrahar

Email: kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com 

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