Friars’ First-Half Run Sinks Wagner

Jalen Lindsey (21) shows what the 2016-17 version of the Friars
is all about as he challenges Wagner's Greg Sentat’s shot
on Saturday.

By Bob Murphy

Q: How does a team recover from a 31-0 run by the opponent?

A: It doesn’t.

That point was driven home on Saturday afternoon when, down by six points, the Providence College Friars went on the aforementioned streak early in the first half to turn a 10-4 deficit into a 35-10 lead and went on to cruise to a 76-54 victory over the Wagner Seahawks before 4,069 fans at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. The gate was kept down by the region’s first significant snowfall. Jalen Lindsey led the Friars with 16 points, while Emmitt Holt added 11.

Rodney Bullock, the Friars’ leading scorer, had an off-night shooting wise with just nine points on 3-for-10 shooting from the floor, but, like any team leader, he contributed in other areas when the shot just wasn’t there. Bullock hauled down nine rebounds, and added two blocks and one steal to his stat-line. Indeed, it was the Friar D that once again proved too much for the opposition. Wagner was held to just 33.3 percent shooting from the floor.

After junior guard Kyron Cartwright got the Friars on the board first by draining a trey just 22 seconds into the contest, Wagner raced out to an early 7-4 lead at 16:20. Sadly for the Seahawks, it was all downhill from there. The Friars totally dominated the first half, outshooting the Seahawks 52 percent to 25 percent from the floor. Most importantly, the Friars forced nine Wagner turnovers that were converted into 14 points, and went into the locker room leading 45-20 at intermission.

The Friars knotted the score at 10 on a layup by Lindsey at 14:28. And that’s when the roof caved on the Seahawks, who didn’t score a point for another 11:06 and another field goal for 11:34. By then Providence led 34-17, and the Seahawks’ chances of a comeback were about as good as Hillary Clinton’s chance of an Electoral College upset. Indeed, Wagner actually outscored Providence in the second half, 34-31—not that it mattered.

In addition to his 16 points, Lindsey hauled down eight rebounds for the Friars. Emmit Holt put up double digits on the scoreboard with an 11-point, four-rebound effort. Cartwright added five points and 11 assists in the Friar offensive assault. Elijah Davis led the way for Wagner with 13 points and nine boards, while Greg Senat put up nine points and hauled down five rebounds for the Seahawks.

Overall, the Friars, who improved to 9-2, shot 47.4 percent from the floor (27-for-57) including a respectable 39.1 percent (9-for-23) from beyond the arc. The Seahawks, meanwhile, were limited to 33.3 percent shooting (21-for-63) including just 5-for-20 from three-point land.

“You have to win your home games,” said Providence head coach Ed Cooley after his team won its eighth straight game on Dave Gavitt court. “It's so, so important. I want to appreciate the crowd for coming out in the tough weather and during the holiday season.”

Through the first 11 games, the surprising Friars, who entered the season ranked ninth in the 10-team conference. To this point in the season, Providence leads the Big East in scoring average against, and is holding opponents to 27.9 percent shooting from 3-point range. But as optimistic as this all sounds, keep in mind that it is just mid-December, and that conference play does not commence until Dec. 28, when the Friars travel to Cincinnati to take on the 9-2 Xavier Musketeers, currently ranked No. 17 in the country.

Cooley doesn’t expect his young team to suffer any kind of significant drop-off once they begin play in the traditionally rough-and-tumble Big East.

“A lot of teams get better at this point in time, especially after the holiday, because it's all basketball,” Cooley said. “You go two-a-days. You have a lot of film sessions. This is where most teams develop that identity and improve.”

The Friars hope to continue their home winning streak on Tuesday when they entertain Maine at The Dunk. Tip-off is slated for 8:30 p.m., and the game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports 1.