Providence Survives Late Turnovers to Beat Xavier in OT, 69-66

Providence led this game for 36:05 of the 45:00 it would take to get an outcome in this Big East battle that required a timeout at one point to clean blood off the court at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in front of 8,250 fans. Providence led by double digits for a fair amount of that 36 minutes of lead time yet the game never felt in control. With Providence leading, 45-35, I asked on Twitter: “anyone else feel like this 10 point lead is really 1?”

That was around the 9:43 mark of the second half. The lead fluctuated between 10 and 6 for awhile after that until a 10 point lead at the 3:12 mark following 2 made free throws by Kris Dunn would evaporate down to 0 when the clock ran out of regulation time. 3 consecutive turnovers, each one more lackadaisical than the last, gave Xavier the ability to come all the way back to force the overtime session.

Providence’s final possession of the second half was puzzling to say the least as Dunn seemingly never got into whatever play Ed Cooley had drawn up in the timeout and ended up dishing to Carson Desrosiers for a top of the key 3-pointer that clanked off the rim as time expired.

The overtime was back and forth until LaDontae Henton took control. Henton grabbed an offensive rebound for a put back to tie the game at 64 and followed that up converting a pass from Dunn that went for an and-1 which he converted to give Providence a 3 point lead they would never relinquish. Henton hadn’t scored a field goal since the 12:27 mark of the second half prior to that 5 point outburst and was saddled with foul trouble for stretches in this game. He finished with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds. The double-double is Henton’s 3rd on the season and 28th for his career. One other career milestone for Henton occured during the overtime session when he scored his 1,810th and 1,8011th points to officially overtake Bruce ‘Soup’ Campbell for 8th all-time in points scored in a career at Providence College.

Ed Cooley mixed things up tonight with a brand new starting lineup of Dunn, Junior Lomomba, Henton, Ben Bentil and Desrosiers. Dunn got off to a fast start with 7 of Providence’s first 9 points and finished with another impressive stat line of 20 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals. No doubt Dunn was at least part of the reason 9 NBA scouts were in attendance for this game.

Lomomba added 6 points in 14 minutes. Cooley indicated after the game that Jalen Lindsey had missed some practice with an injured achilles tendon which explains Lomomba replacing him in the starting lineup though Lindsey played 16 minutes off the bench. Harris was having a pretty solid game off the bench scoring in double figures for the 3rd straight game. Harris had 12 points but also had one of the 3 critical turnovers at the end of regulation to allow Xavier to tie the game. Kyron Cartwright added 4 points and 1 assist in 15 minutes off the bench but it was his lazy pass at the end of regulation that led to the tying score to force overtime.

Ted Bancroft was tapped a minute into the overtime period for the final 4 minutes of the game and managed to coral a 50/50 ball for a defensive rebound and deflect Xavier’s last ditch 3-point attempt at the buzzer. Desrosiers had a less than impressive 1/8 shooting night but he added 7 rebounds a 4 blocks. Those 4 blocks move Desrosiers past Bilal Dixon for 8th on the all-time career blocks list in Providence College history.

Xavier was led by Matt Stainbrook with 17 points and 10 rebounds though the big man was saddled by foul trouble much of the night and only shot 8/19 from the field, including a 3/10 first half. Myles Davis had 16 points and Jalen Reynolds finished with 14 points. No other Musketeer had more than 5 points.

With the win the Friars improve to 15-5 overall and 5-2 in Big East play while the loss drops Xavier to 12-7 and 3-4. Providence is now tied with Georgetown and DePaul for 1st place in the Big East. That means Providence’s 9pm tilt Tuesday at the Dunk could be a battle for sole possession of the top spot in the league standings.

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