Friars Get Their Groove Back Against Rival Rams

From the opening tip it was clear the Providence Friars came to play. Despite a quick turnover by Tyler Harris in the corner on their first possession the Friars showed much better energy and offensive flow. Kris Dunn started fast with his defense and put up 10 first half points to go along with 5 rebounds 2 assists and 3 steals. Dunn then opened the second half with a block on Rhode Island’s opening possession.

The bigger story of the first half was that LaDontae Henton seemed to turn a corner midway through the opening half when his shots started falling and his confidence started to come back. Henton led all scorers in the first half with 11 points on 4/9 shooting. Henton was also 3/3 from the free throw line while the Friars went an impressive 9/10 from the line in the first half.

Freshman Paschal Chukwu gave Ed Cooley 5 productive first half minutes including a converted alley-oop from Kyron Cartwright. Chukwu scored 4 points in the first half to go along with 1 rebound. Chukwu would add 5 more productive minutes in the second half and had an impressive alley-oop conversion that got the crowd on their feet.

The second half saw more good basketball by both squads. The Friars continued to force turnovers and Rhode Island even kicked in some unforced turnovers. Tyler Harris carried the Friars for the middle stretch of the second half and finished the game with 17 points on the night. Providence had their own turnover issues and had 10 in the second half after only having 2 in the first half.

After LaDontae Henton fouled out at the 1:46 mark Kris Dunn was able to knock down 4 out of 6 free throws with 2 makes by Kyron Cartwright sandwiched in and then Dunn finished the game off in style with a steal and dunk in the final seconds. Dunn was impressive most of the night despite having to sit for stretches due to foul trouble. He finished the game with 22 points on 7/10 from the field and 8/10 from the line. He also pulled down 9 rebounds. Henton would finish with 15 points. Dunn had a team high 22 points to continue his impressive offensive output.

The Friars gave back a lot on the turnover battle in the second half after only turning it over twice in the first 20 minutes. They had 10 turnovers in the second half with a few critical ones at the end of the game that had the 12,246 fans, mostly Providence supporters, on the edge of their seats. E.C. Matthews led all scorers in the game with 27 points on 9/15 from the field.

In the end the difference came at the free throw line as the Friars went 21/26 (81%) from the stripe while the Rams only managed 12/22 (55%). Providence ended up winning the rebounding battle, 32-26, after being down, 19-14, at the half. One reason for the lack of second half rebounding prowess for Rhode Island was that Gil Biruta was saddled with foul trouble and only had 2 points and 2 rebounds in the second half.

Game Notes:

• Providence shot 50% from the field on the night while scoring 40 of their 68 points in the paint.
• The Friars forced 15 turnovers that led to 20 points off turnovers while the Rams forced 12 turnovers that led to 15 points off turnovers.
• Providence had 10 steals and 5 blocks.
• The Friars led for 35:27 of this game while Rhode Island led for 3:28 and the game was tied for 1:05. There were 5 lead changes on the night.

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Mike Hopkins

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