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Men's Basketball
vs Late Night Madness
TBA
Providence College Athletics
Sunday, December 21
Providence, R.I.
3:00 PM
Providence College
72
vs
67
Central Conn
Friars Outlast Blue Devils, 72-67
12/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec 21, 2003
Coach Welsh's Press Conference
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Rob Sanders scored a career-high 21 points and Ryan Gomes had nine of his 17 points in the closing eight minutes Sunday afternoon, lifting Providence to a 72-67 win over Central Connecticut.
Donnie McGrath hit three free throws in the closing 33.8 seconds and finished with 13 points for Providence (5-1), which had a tougher than expected contest from the Blue Devils.
Ron Robinson led Central Connecticut (2-2) with a career high 29 points. DeMario Anderson added 13 points.
McGrath's 3-point play with 3:48 left tied the game at 65-all. Sanders' basket then pushed the Friars ahead for good with 3:06 left.
Sanders hit one free throw with 1:19 to play before McGrath hit his three, making it 71-67 with 11.1 seconds to play.
 Ryan Gomes scored nine of his 17 points in the closing eight minutes.  | |
Providence took its first lead of the game, 43-41, on Gomes two free throws 4:57 into the second half and pushed its advantage to 48-43. But the Blue Devils answered with 11 straight points to regain the lead. Anderson and Justin Chiera each had a 3-pointer in the spree.
Gomes scored seven straight points to move Providence ahead 61-60 with 6:42 to play.
The Friars, coming off their first victory over a ranked team since February 2001 in their last game 12 days ago, started slowly but recovered late the first half.
Central Connecticut, which had a pair of 12-point leads in the first half, held a 37-33 halftime edge.
Providence, which trailed 36-24 late in the opening half, used a 9-1 run that closed the half and sliced the gap to four points at intermission.
The Friars beat then-No. 14 Illinois 70-51 on Dec. 9 at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V. Classic.
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