Providence 84, St. John’s 83 (2 OT): Bryce Cotton collected 21 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and hit the go-ahead basket with less than 10 seconds left in double-overtime as the visiting Friars outlasted the Red Storm.
After D'Angelo Harrison put St. John’s ahead 83-79 with about 1 ½ minutes left in the second overtime, the Red Storm could not score again as Tyler Harris drained three free throws to bring the Providence with one. Cotton stole the ball and converted a layup seconds later and Phil Greene IV missed a potential game-winning layup in the closing seconds to seal it.
Kadeem Batts and LaDontae Henton each added 17 points and nine rebounds for Providence (12-5, 2-2 Big East), which defeated St. John’s for the 14th time in the schools’ last 18 meetings. JaKarr Sampson was one of six players to finish in double figures with 16 points for St. John’s (9-8, 0-5), which matched its longest losing streak in the four-year tenure of coach Steve Lavin.
Cotton scored six early points as Providence hit three of its first four 3-point attempts to race out to a 14-2 advantage about five minutes into the game. The Friars held a double-digit margin for most of the rest of the first half and led by as many as 13 on Henton’s 3-pointer before St. John’s rolled off 10 straight points – including six from Sampson – spanning both halves to cut the deficit to three.
The Red Storm knotted it at 50 on a three-point play by God'sgift Achiuwa and grabbed their first lead of the second half on Harrison’s 3-pointer with 3:07 left. Orlando Sanchez missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds after the Friars tied it at 67 to send it into overtime and Harrison came up short on a jumper as time expired in the extra period to extend the game another five minutes.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Providence – the top free-throw shooting team in the country entering Thursday (79.7 percent) – went 30-of-34 from the foul line while the Red Storm shot 20-of-24. … Harrison accounted for St. John’s only 3-pointer as the Red Storm went 1-of-10 beyond the arc. … Three of the Friars’ last six games have gone into overtime and two of their four conference games have gone into double overtime.
Providence | St. John's | |
Bryce Cotton 21 | Scoring | Jakarr Sampson 16 |
Bryce Cotton 8 | Assists | Rysheed Jordan 4 |
Kadeem Batts 9 | Rebounds | God'sgift Achiuwa 8 |
Kadeem Batts 11 | Free Throws Made | D'Angelo Harrison 5 |
Bryce Cotton 2 | Steals | D'Angelo Harrison 2 |
Carson Desrosiers 2 | Blocks | God'sgift Achiuwa 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Providence | 84 | 36.9 | 6-25 | 30-36 | 16 | 42 | 5 | 8 | 12 |
St. John's | 83 | 42.5 | 1-10 | 20-24 | 10 | 42 | 6 | 5 | 14 |