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Drew Edwards Breaks Out

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Ben Bentil sat for much of the first half, but returned with five minutes remaining to ignite the Friars in their 74-67 victory over Bryant. Bentil’s return to the court after twisting his ankle against Boston College on Wednesday would have been the story of the game had freshman Drew Edwards not turned in the best performance of his brief career.

Here are four key takeaways from PC’s 10th win of the season.

Edwards to the rescue. Providence was most likely on their way to a victory before Edwards started his three point barrage in the second half. PC trailed by as many as 11 in the first half (in fact, they didn’t lead once in the game’s opening 20 minutes), but Bentil’s return turned the tide and they led 35-34 when Edwards’ first shot fell.

That shot was a three pointer, Edwards’ first of the season, and kicked off a second half in which he made 5-7 from three point range, connected on another jumper just inside the arc, and scored a career high 17 points.

Edwards missed both of his field goal attempts in the first half, but as was the case against Boston College, his activity on the defensive end earned him minutes.

His offense in the second half got him notoriety.

The Providence coaching staff made landing shooters a priority when recruiting this freshman class, and Ryan Fazekas has been even better than advertised, connecting on over 47% from 3 point range and hitting crucial second half threes in comeback victories over Arizona and Rhode Island.

With Fazkeas out with mono and Kris Dunn sitting with a virus of his own, the Friars started this game a frigid 2-18 from three point range before Edwards’ went to work.

The Maryland native finished the day 6-10 from the field, 5-9 from three, and also had a season high five steals.

Ed Cooley bristled at the notion that Edwards wasn’t regarded as a knockdown shooter in the post game media session, noting that Edwards, Fazekas and Ricky Council were all brought to Providence to fire away from deep.

If Edwards is anywhere near the shooter he showed on Saturday afternoon the now 10-1 Friars become that much deeper.

Sickness making the rounds. With Dunn and Fazkeas out, and Bentil watching for most of the first half the Friars looked a step slow. That could be in part due to an illness that is going around the team. Cooley said Kyron Cartwright and Rodney Bullock were both sick, noting that the staff thought there was a chance that Bullock may not play against Bryant.

Bullock sucked it up and had 10 points in nine rebounds in the first half alone, before slowing in the second half (he finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 blocks), while Cartwright sat for much of the second half.

Bentil shows spring. Cooley let out a scream of aggravation when Ben Bentil hobbled off of the court on Wednesday against Boston College. The sophomore was in the midst of the best stretch of his young career, having scored 20+ points in the five games prior to Wednesday night.

Bentil was at it again against the Eagles, dominating inside to the tune of 16 points and eight rebounds prior to turning his ankle with two minutes remaining in the first half. He sat the rest of the way, as Providence eventually shook BC.

Against Bryant, Bentil not only scored 16 points with eight rebounds, he seemingly injected life into his teammates, and the crowd, upon his return. He also alleviated concerns about his ankle with a two hand dunk power dunk through the lane and a finish on an alley oop.

Cooley seemingly hoped to get by Bryant without him, but inserted Bentil into the lineup with 5:15 left in the first half and PC down nine.

Timely week off. The Friars enter exams 10-1 and may even see a bump in their #15 ranking on Monday afternoon. They have a well-timed week off before they return to the Dunkin Donuts Center next Saturday night to play Rider.

Twitter: @Kevin_Farrahar

Email: kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

 

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