Stat Leaders

• Providence and Brown met for the 124th time ever on Wednesday night at the Dunk. Kyron Cartwright didn’t start this game due to a sore ankle. Those looking for an easy win for the Friars were disappointed when Brown came out firing and jumped out to a 12-point halftime lead. The Friars played better in the second half, but they lost Maliek White who went down with a left knee injury. He went straight to the locker room without putting weight on the left leg, but White would later appear back on the bench with a bag of ice strapped to his knee. Cartwright, who wasn’t expected to play at all in this game, entered with 9:32 to go and that energy sparked the Providence run that would result in the Friars’ first lead of the game with 8:14 to go in the second stanza. The rest of the half was a bit back and forth affair. The Friars would also lose Alpha Diallo to an ankle turn after he scored with 1:34 to go in the second half. The shot that appeared to put Providence over the top down the stretch was a Jalen Lindsey 3-pointer from a Makai Ashton-Langford inbounds pass to make the score 67-63 with 46.8 to go in the game. Two bad fouls by Isaiah Jackson put Desmond Cambridge at the line to shoot 3 and then fouling Tamenang Choo that resulted in a 3-point play to tie the game at 68 and ultimately send it to overtime. Overtime was again back and forth with some nice plays and some maddening ones. In the end Providence did enough to hold off the Bears to avoid just their 29th loss all-time in this meeting.
• Providence was led by Rodney Bullock with 21 points and 9 rebounds in 43 minutes of action. He was 5/13 from the field but made just 11 of 16 free throws. The Friars 20/30 at the line for the game (66.7%).
• Also in double figures for the Friars were Makai Ashton-Langford (11), Jalen Lindsey (10) and Alpha Diallo (11) and Maliek White before both getting hurt.
• Kyron Cartwright, who hit the 2 free throws to seal the game in overtime, was seen around the Providence campus in a walking boot this week, a source told pcbb1917.com. Perhaps Cartwright entering this game when it was clear Cooley wanted to stay away from playing him will be the beginning of the grit this team has lacked.
• Brown was led by Desmond Cambridge and Brandon Anderson who each scored 19 points. Obi Okolie was also in double figures for the Bears.
• Providence scored 27 points off 24 Brown turnovers on the night.
• Providence improves to 7-2 on the season.
• The Friars head to Amherst to take on the Massachusetts Minutemen on Saturday. The game tips at 3pm and will air on NESN.

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Mike Hopkins

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