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Providence College Athletics
St. John's Stifles the Friars, 84-57
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
January 20, 1999
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Erick Barkley scored 18 points and No. 8 St. John's, playing without its leading rebounder, held Providence to its lowest point total of the season in an 84-57 victory Wednesday night.
The Red Storm (16-3, 7-1 Big East) won their fourth straight game and the 13th of their last 14 and did it without senior forward Tyrone Grant, who is out indefinitely with a broken bone in his right wrist.
The conference record for St. John's is its best since going 7-1 in 1985-86 but it only gets tougher for the Red Storm. They play No. 2 Duke on Sunday and then return to Big East play at No. 20 Syracuse next Wednesday and then play No. 1 Connecticut at home next Saturday.
St. John's took control early against the Friars (12-6, 5-4), who had won six of their last seven games and are 4-2 this season against teams ranked in the top 25.
The Red Storm led 23-12 with 9:43 left in the first half on a three-point play by Barkley and the halftime lead was 40-29 with their last points coming on a 30-footer by Barkley as the shot clock wound down.
St. John's did to Providence what the Friars had been doing to other teams - force the tempo and create turnovers. Providence entered the game with a plus-5 in turnovers but the Red Storm forced it into 16 while committing only 12.
The previous low output for the Friars was 65 points in a win over Seton Hall and their previous five losses were by a combined 27, the same total by which St. John's won Wednesday night. St. John's shot 51 percent for the game (32-for-63), while the Friars were 22-for-68 (32 percent).
Bootsy Thornton added 17 points for St. John's, Reggie Jessie had a career-high 16 and Lavor Postell added 14. Ron Artest finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in addition to doing an outstanding defensive job on Providence's Jamel Thomas.
Thomas entered the game averaging 22.8 points per game and finished with 14 on 5-of-18 shooting, including 0-for-8 from 3-point range.
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