Providence Survives Late 3-point Barrage to Beat Marquette, 77-66

The first half of Sunday’s game in front of a sellout crowd at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center felt fairly comfortable. The first few minutes of the second half made things even more comfortable as Providence got out to a 24 point lead with 13:15 to go. The game seemed well in hand. Matt Carlino started the comeback by chipping away at that 24 point deficit.

The Golden Eagles were able to cut the Friar lead down to 15. Enter Duane Wilson. Wilson went off beginning at the 4:59 mark when he converted his first of 4 made 3-pointers of the second half. He did it again at a little over a minute later and seemingly from the same spot. Another minute went by and another Duane Wilson 3-pointer was recorded. The lead was now down to 7.

LaDontae Henton made a free throw to bring it back to 8 but then Carlino nailed a trey to bring the game within two possessions for the first time since Providence led by 6 with 4:49 left in the first half. A pair of Junior Lomomba free throws followed by a grown man’s putback by Henton off his own missed free throw and that basically shut be door on the Marquette comeback. Ben Bentil would bury two free throws to get the lead back to 10 with 56 seconds left and that was the ball game. Bentil finished wit 8 points and 4 rebounds.

Another key contributor was Paschal Chukwu who got his second career start filling in for the injured Carson Desrosiers. Desrosiers went through pregame warmups but ultimately couldn’t give it a go. Cooley classified him as “day-to-day” still and hopes to have the senior big man available for Seton Hall.

Kris Dunn had a very good game in front of a plethora of NBA scouts, including former North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty. Dunn finished with 16 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and only 1 turnover in 37 minutes.

Henton had a monster game, maybe his best since the phenomenal performance against Notre Dame at Mohegan Sun back in November. Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski called LaDontae Henton “a natural born scorer” in his postgame remarks. When asked what he thought changed between Henton being held scoreless for the game’s first 12-plus minutes Wojciechowski attributed it to Henton’s ability to get on the offensive glass and rip rebounds out of his player’s hands. Henton’s final stat line was impressice: 25 points (11/18 FG), 15 rebounds (8 offensive) in 39 minutes of action.

Ed Cooley said he hopes his team takes on Henton’s personality down the stretch. “He was a possessed man today,” said Cooley. Cooley discussed Henton’s senior sense of urgency and the Friar head man is hopeful the fans will turn out for Henton’s senior day celebration next Saturday (12pm vs. Butler). “There’s no better and deserving individual in the country than what this kid has grown into,” Cooley said of Henton.

Marquette entered Sunday’s game 0-7 on the season against ranked opponents and this now makes 0-8. The Golden Eagles are 3-13 in Big East play but they don’t have the look of the league’s worst team. Wilson’s 22 points led Marquette in scoring. This is the 8th time he has been their leader in the scoring department. Only Carlino has led the Golden Eagles more times (10). Juan Anderson was a non-factor in 10 minutes off the bench and Wojciechowski described Anderson as playing at less than half of his ability due to a nagging foot injury.

Luke Fischer was largely held in check and battled foul trouble most of the afternoon. Fischer played 25 minutes and finished with 6 points and 2 rebounds before fouling out.

Overall the Friars dominated nearly every statistical category besides 3-pointers where Marquette finished 10/27 against Providence’s 2/11. Providence manhandled Marquette on the glass, 45-25, and grabbed an impressive 19 offensive rebounds. The Friars assisted on 20 of 29 baskets. The only 9 that were unassisted were all putbacks as a result of offensive rebounds. Those 18 second chance points went against 0 second chance points for Marquette. Points off turnovers also went for the Friars, 19-9.

“We would feel totally different if that game was lost so I think we’ve gotta appreciate the win,” Cooley said after the game. That’s win number 20 for Providence and win number 10 in the Big East. The Friars are a lock for the NCAA Tournament and their final 2 regular season games and how many ever Big East Tournament games they play will be for seeding. In terms of immediate seeding the Friars control their destiny for the 2 seed for the Big East Tournament.

The Friars will now travel to Seton Hall on Wednesday for their final road contest of the 2014-15 regular season. That game tips at 7pm at the Prudential Center.

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