Friar Basketball

Bench Shines, but X Holds Off Friars

Jackson at Xavier

Providence did enough well to hang around around on the road at #3 Xavier, but didn’t play well enough to win at the Cintas Center — not on Senior Night for J.P. Macura and Trevon Bluiett.

Bluiett scored 23 points to lead Xavier to an 84-74 victory that clinched at least a share of the regular season Big East title.

Hanging around in this one looked like it was going to be a tall task early, especially when the Musketeers ran out to a 9-2 lead that eventually turned into a 21-8 advantage nine minutes into the game.

The Friars rallied late in the first half, with its bench doing much of the damage, closing to within 40-37 at the break. Xavier opened the second half by making eight of its first 10 shots from the field and Providence got no closer than six points the rest of the way.

Too much went wrong for PC to take out a team of this caliber on the road. Seniors Jalen Lindsey and Rodney Bullock were virtual no-shows. Lindsey did not score in 21 minutes, while Bullock fouled out with just under four minutes to play after having gone 2-4 from the field and turning the ball over four times in 22 minutes.

The Friars somehow manage to shoot over 52% from the field, despite making just 3-18 from beyond the 3-point arc. The starters were 1-11 from deep.

It was impressive that Providence was able to stay within shouting distance throughout the second half — a second half in which they got little from Lindsey and Bullock, and Kyron Cartwright played the final 15 minutes with four fouls.

Which takes us to the highlight for the Friars. We finally saw the depth that Friar coach Ed Cooley spoke so glowingly about in October. Nate Watson had a six point first half surge when PC struggled offensively. Fellow freshman Makai Ashton-Langford scored a personal Big East high 11 points on 4-6 shooting from the field, to go along with three rebounds and three assists in 15 minutes.

Isaiah Jackson once again provided a major lift off of the bench, attacking the basket en route to 13 points, while sophomore Maliek White scored 15 points on a 3-pointer and a variety of aggressive drives to the basket.

If Providence’s bench can give them anything close to this type of effort in March this becomes a dangerous bunch.

Cooley has had to get creative in finding offense in conference play. The Friars are second to last in conference games in both field goal percentage and 3-point accuracy.

PC closes out the regular season on Saturday against St. John’s, in a game the Friars must win if they are to reach the NCAA Tournament. The Johnnies will come to Providence hot, having won five of their last seven games, including wins over Duke, Villanova, and Butler (in overtime last night). They also fell to Seton Hall in overtime during this stretch.

 

 

2 Comments

  1. John jepsen

    March 1, 2018 at 8:35 pm

    Any comment on refs?

  2. Anonymous

    March 1, 2018 at 10:49 pm

    That’s all well and good that the bench shined. So what? Too many games this year the seniors Cartright, Bullock and Lindsey have failed to show. Last night it happened again. We need the starters to play well. Seniors, time to step up…time is running out….

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