Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Rhode Island on December 6, 2025 , Win , 90, to, 71
Men's Basketball
vs Rhode Island
Final
90
-
71
Providence College Athletics
Saturday, January 3
New York, N.Y.
12:00 p.m.
Providence College
8-6,1-2Big East
77
at
71
St. John's
9-5,2-1Big East
1
2
F
Providence
31
46
77
St. John's (NY)
38
33
71
Men’s Basketball Earns A Comeback Win at No. 25 St. John’s, 77-71, In Madison Square Garden
1/3/2026 3:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Stefan Vaaks led the Friars with 16 points.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Providence College men's basketball team defeated the No. 25 St. John's University Red Storm (9-5, 2-1 BIG EAST), 77-71, on Saturday, Jan. 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. With the win, Providence improved to 8-6 overall and 1-2 in BIG EAST play. Freshman Stefan Vaaks (Tabasalu, Estonia) led the Friars with 16 points. Freshman Jamier Jones (Sarasota, Fla.) recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
"That was a great BIG EAST basketball game." Head Coach Kim English said. "I felt like at the end of the game we were disciplined. The players deserve all the credit for finding a way to win this game."
FIRST HALF:
• After a 13-0 St. John's run, Jaylin Sellers (Columbus, Ga.) converted on a driving effort to make it 13-2 going into the first media timeout (15:34).
• Jason Edwards (Atlanta, Ga.) earned a trip to the line and converted on one attempt to make it 15-3, St. John's (14:38).
• Edwards drove through the lane and converted on an and-one opportunity to cut into the deficit (13:23).
• Corey Floyd Jr. (Franklin, N.J.) connected on a floater to make it 17-8, St. John's (12:06).
• Floyd Jr. found Oswin Erhunmwunse (Benin City, Nigeria) for an alley-oop dunk, and on the following possession, Sellers connected on a driving effort to make it 19-12, St. John's (10:12).
• Floyd Jr. got out in transition and converted on a layup to pull the Friars within five, 19-14 (9:06).
• Edwards recorded a steal and got out on the fast-break to make it a one-possession game, 19-16 (8:43).
• Out of a media timeout, Jamier Jones (Sarasota, Fla.) cleaned up an Edwards miss with a tip-in put-back layup to make it 22-18 (7:43).
• Edwards drew a foul on a three-point attempt and was able to convert on two of the three free throws to pull the Friars within three, 23-20 (6:39).
• Duncan Powell (Dallas, Texas) recorded his first points of the night after he gathered a loose ball under the hoop before laying it in, making it 24-22, St. John's (5:42).
• The Friars took their first lead of the night on a Jones put-back layup, 25-24 (4:40).
• Sellers connected on a deep three-point attempt off a pass from Edwards to give Providence the two-point lead, 28-26 (3:46).
• Sellers made a heavily contested layup to make it 36-31, St. John's, with under a minute remaining in the half.
• St. John's led going into the locker room, 38-31.
• Providence shot 12-28 (42.9%) from the field, 1-6 (16.7%) from three, and 6-12 (50.0%) from the free-throw line.
• St. John's shot 13-40 (32.5%) from the field, 5-19 (26.3%) from three, and 7-15 (46.7%) from the free-throw line.
• Sellers led the Friars with nine points on 4-6 shooting.
• Zuby Ejiofor led all scorers with 18 points. He also added 11 rebounds.
• Seven different Friars registered points in the first half.
SECOND HALF:
• Sellers opened the second half with a jump shot in the lane as St. John's held a 38-33 lead. Jones slammed a put-back dunk and sank the and one free throw that cut the lead to three (18:35).
• Vaaks sank his first three of the contest to cut into St. John's lead. As the Friars held St. John's scoreless from the field for over three minutes, Sellers made a layup and cut the lead to 41-44 (15:28).
• St. John's extended the lead back out to 10 points with a three-pointer with 14 minutes remaining in the second half.
• The Friars were then held scoreless from the field for over four and a half minutes but continued to make free throws as St. John's led 61-52 at the under-eight media timeout (7:52). Out of the timeout, Vaaks sank a deep three in transition as the Friars trailed by seven.
• Jones made a spinning layup in transition, and Erhunmwunse followed with a fast break dunk on the ensuing possession that brought the Friars within one at 64-63 (4:44).
• As the teams traded buckets, Vaaks sank an and one three –pointer and made the free throw as St. John's led by one. Jones made a pair of free throws and gave the Friars a lead at 69-68 with 2:28 remaining in regulation.
• St. John's responded with a pair of free throws before Vaaks connected on his third three of the game and gave the Friars a 72-70 lead (1:57).
• Erhunmwunse slammed an emphatic dunk with 32 seconds remaining that extended the Friar lead to four. Vaaks scored a transition layup with 11 seconds left in the period as Providence held a 77-71 lead at the final buzzer.
• The Friars held St. John's scoreless from the field for the final three minutes of the game.
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Providence shot 25-64 (39.1%) from the field, 6-18 (33.3%) from three, and 21-28 (75.0%) from the free-throw line.
• St. John's shot 20-71 (28.2%) from the field, 7-31 (22.6%) from three, and 24-37 (64.9%) from the free-throw line.
• The Friars finished with five players in double figures: Vaaks (16), Jones (15), Sellers (15), Edwards (11) and Erhunmwunse (10).
• Ejiofor led all scorers with 33 points and added 15 rebounds. Ejiofor attempted 23 free throws and made 14.
• Jamier Jones recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
• The Friars held a large advantage in points in the paint, scoring 38 to St. John's 20.
• The Friars have registered a 59-68 mark all-time versus St. John's.
• The Red Storm are the Friars' second most common opponent with 127 games played against St. John's.
• The Friars are 22-37 all-time on the road versus the Red Storm.
• Go Brenda! Great game!
UP NEXT:
The Friars will return home to host the No. 4 University of Connecticut Huskies on Wednesday, Jan. 7, at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. The game will be streamed on Peacock.
-GO FRIARS!-
Team Stats
PROV
SJU
FG%
.391
.282
3FG%
.333
.226
FT%
.750
.649
RB
44
51
TO
12
12
STL
7
6
Game Leaders
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
2
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
G
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