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Men's Basketball
at Pitt (Exhibition)
2:00 p.m.
Providence College Athletics
Wednesday, February 13
Philadelphia, PA.
6:30 P.M.
Providence College
67
at
85
Villanova
Photo by: Ryan Feeney
Men’s Basketball Comes Up Short At No. 13/13 Villanova, 85-67
2/13/2019 9:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball
VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Providence College men's basketball team was defeated by the Villanova Wildcats on Wednesday, Feb. 13 at the Finneran Pavilion, 85-67. Providence led by two, 55-53, with 9:17 remaining but could not recover from a late Villanova run.
Nate Watson (Arlington, Va.) connected on 8-13 field goal attempts to score a team-high 18 points in the contest. Alpha Diallo (New York, N.Y.) chipped in 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Isaiah Jackson (Gainesville, Fla.) scored eight points and added six assists.
Freshmen David Duke (Providence, R.I) and A.J. Reeves (Roxbury, Mass.) led the Friars after five minutes of action. Duke opened the scoring with a left-handed finish in the paint followed by a triple from the corner for Reeves. Providence connected on three of their first five shots compared to Villanova converting just two of their first eight attempts. Despite the difference in field goal percentage, Villanova led 8-7 with 15:49 remaining in the half.
A spurt of hot shooting gave Villanova a six-point advantage with 8:24 left in the half, 20-14. Phil Booth and Joe Cremo connected on threes while Providence answered with baskets in the paint. Head Coach Ed Cooley started to break Villanova's press at the midway point of the half. The team found Watson on the post for six consecutive points on the press break.
Providence found an answer for each Villanova run in the first half, Maliek White (Richmond, Va.) knocked down threes on back-to-back possessions while Duke and Diallo added and-one baskets in the paint. Providence knocked down five of their 12 three-point attempts (41.7 percent), while Villanova averaging 10 triples per game only shot 3-11 (27.3) behind the arc in the first 20 minutes.
The Wildcats claimed a 39-34 advantage at the intermission. Watson led Providence scorers with eight in the half. Villanova shot 14-14 from the line while the Friars shot just 1-2.
The Friars' hot shooting streaked into the second half, opening the first four minutes of play shooting 5-6 from the field including a triple from Reeves. Watson scored six of the eleven points and made the game even at 45-45 (16:06) after receiving a pass in the paint and dunking it home over Jermaine Samuels.
Villanova helped the Friars with 13:45 left in the game, the team accumulated four fouls on one Providence possession to put them in the bonus. Providence capitalized by hitting six straight free throws from Jackson, Kalif Young (Vaughan, Ontario) and Drew Edwards (Perry Hall, Md.) to cut the Villanova lead to just 53-51 with 11:49 remaining.
White capped off a 10-0 Providence run connecting on a reverse layup in transition, the basket gave Providence their first lead (55-53) since the 12:54 mark in the first half.
The Wildcats built a 10-point advantage with 3:42 left in the game, 73-63. Paschall and Booth led the run combining for 31 points in the second half and six three-point baskets. Providence could not cut the deficit to single digits as they fell 85-67.
Eric Paschall paced the Wildcats with 25 points, 20 of which came in the second half.
Up next, Providence will return to the Dunkin' Donuts Center to take on Xavier on Saturday, Feb. 16. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on FOX.
-GO FRIARS-
Nate Watson (Arlington, Va.) connected on 8-13 field goal attempts to score a team-high 18 points in the contest. Alpha Diallo (New York, N.Y.) chipped in 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Isaiah Jackson (Gainesville, Fla.) scored eight points and added six assists.
Freshmen David Duke (Providence, R.I) and A.J. Reeves (Roxbury, Mass.) led the Friars after five minutes of action. Duke opened the scoring with a left-handed finish in the paint followed by a triple from the corner for Reeves. Providence connected on three of their first five shots compared to Villanova converting just two of their first eight attempts. Despite the difference in field goal percentage, Villanova led 8-7 with 15:49 remaining in the half.
A spurt of hot shooting gave Villanova a six-point advantage with 8:24 left in the half, 20-14. Phil Booth and Joe Cremo connected on threes while Providence answered with baskets in the paint. Head Coach Ed Cooley started to break Villanova's press at the midway point of the half. The team found Watson on the post for six consecutive points on the press break.
Providence found an answer for each Villanova run in the first half, Maliek White (Richmond, Va.) knocked down threes on back-to-back possessions while Duke and Diallo added and-one baskets in the paint. Providence knocked down five of their 12 three-point attempts (41.7 percent), while Villanova averaging 10 triples per game only shot 3-11 (27.3) behind the arc in the first 20 minutes.
The Wildcats claimed a 39-34 advantage at the intermission. Watson led Providence scorers with eight in the half. Villanova shot 14-14 from the line while the Friars shot just 1-2.
The Friars' hot shooting streaked into the second half, opening the first four minutes of play shooting 5-6 from the field including a triple from Reeves. Watson scored six of the eleven points and made the game even at 45-45 (16:06) after receiving a pass in the paint and dunking it home over Jermaine Samuels.
Villanova helped the Friars with 13:45 left in the game, the team accumulated four fouls on one Providence possession to put them in the bonus. Providence capitalized by hitting six straight free throws from Jackson, Kalif Young (Vaughan, Ontario) and Drew Edwards (Perry Hall, Md.) to cut the Villanova lead to just 53-51 with 11:49 remaining.
White capped off a 10-0 Providence run connecting on a reverse layup in transition, the basket gave Providence their first lead (55-53) since the 12:54 mark in the first half.
The Wildcats built a 10-point advantage with 3:42 left in the game, 73-63. Paschall and Booth led the run combining for 31 points in the second half and six three-point baskets. Providence could not cut the deficit to single digits as they fell 85-67.
Eric Paschall paced the Wildcats with 25 points, 20 of which came in the second half.
Up next, Providence will return to the Dunkin' Donuts Center to take on Xavier on Saturday, Feb. 16. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on FOX.
-GO FRIARS-
Players Mentioned
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