Men’s Basketball Defeats Xavier, 94-84

Gallery: (2-25-2026) Men's Basketball vs Xavier

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Providence College men's basketball team defeated the Xavier University Musketeers (13-15, 5-12 BIG EAST), 94-84, on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at The Amica Mutual Pavilion, in Providence, R.I. With the win, Providence improved to 13-15 overall and 6-11 in BIG EAST play. Graduate student Jaylin Sellers (Columbus, Ga.) led the Friars with 27 points. Graduate student Jason Edwards (Atlanta, Ga.) added 24 and freshman Jamier Jones (Sarasota, Fla.) had 19. Sophomore Oswin Erhunmwunse (Benin City, Nigeria) recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

"I'd like to start by thanking everyone that played a role in making this happen." Head Coach Kim English said. "And everyone that made the trek to the AMP tonight, it really helped pull us through."

FIRST HALF:

• After Xavier scored on its second possession, Ryan Mela (Natick, Mass.) was able to get to the rim and finish strong to tie the game at two (18:53).

• Jaylin Sellers was able to convert on his first attempt of the game after Jamier Jones went 1-2 from the line to make it 5-4, Providence (17:34).

• On the following possession, Sellers knocked down a three-pointer to extend the Providence lead. Jones was able to record a steal and get out in transition for an emphatic two-handed dunk to make it 10-6, Providence (16:49).

• Jason Edwards continued the hot shooting for Providence with a three-pointer of his own on the next possession to cap off an 8-0 run to make it 13-6 heading into the first media timeout (15:55).

• Out of the timeout, the Friars recorded a stop and got out in transition where Mela found Sellers for the easy lay-in to extend the lead.

• Mela was able to get in the lane again and convert on a floater to make it 17-11, Providence (13:47).

• Peteris Pinnis (Salaspils, Latvia) was able to grab an offensive rebound and lay it back in for his first bucket of the night before grabbing a rebound on the defensive end that resulted in a Edwards three the next time down the floor, giving Providence its first double-digit lead and forcing a Xavier timeout (12:41).

• Out of a media timeout, Oswin Erhunmwunse corralled a pass on a baseline-out-of-bounds play and was able to hit a short turnaround jumper to make it 26-12, Providence (11:31).

• Mela was able to get creative on the baseline and convert for an easy two to extend the Providence lead to 16. On the next possession, Sellers muscled his way to the rim to make it 32-14 (8:07).

• Jones gathered his own miss and laid it back in for an easy two. Sellers got to the rim on the next possession and converted on a heavily contested two to give Providence its first 20-point lead of the game, 36-16. On the following possession, Edwards knocked down his third three-pointer of the evening to make the game 39-16 (6:10).

• Out of the media timeout, Sellers knocked down another deep three, which was followed by a midrange jumper from Edwards on the following possession (2:35).

• Edwards knocked down a baseline fadeaway jumper as time expired to give Providence the 47-34 advantage heading into the half.

• Providence shot 18-31 (58.1%) from the field, 5-9 (55.6%) from three, and 6-8 (75.0%) from the free-throw line.

• Xavier shot 14-35 (40.0%) from the field, 2-14 (14.3%) from three, and 4-6 (66.7%) from the free-throw line.

• Sellers led the Friars with 14 points. Edwards chipped in with 13 and Jones added 11.

SECOND HALF:

• On the first possession of the half, Mela was able to get to the rim and convert for two. A few possessions later Edwards found Erhunmwunse for a dunk to make it 52-34 (18:53).

• After the Friars hit a slump, Edwards got to his spot and knocked down a 15-footer to make it 58-42, Providence (15:09).

• On the next possession, Jones got to the rim and converted on a difficult layup to maintain the Providence lead (14:29).

• Mela was able to find Nilivan Daniels (St. Louis, Mo.) from the middle of the zone for a three pointer. On the next possession, Jones tracked down a Providence miss and was able to throw it down for a put-back dunk to make it 66-52, Providence (12:51).

• Erhunmwunse caught the ball in the middle of the zone and found the cutting Jones on the baseline for an alley-oop dunk to make it 68-54 heading into the media timeout (12:00).

• Sellers got to his left and was able to connect on an easy lay-in to extend the Providence lead (11:14).

• Edwards was able to slip a bounce pass to Erhunmwunse on a roll for a two-handed slam dunk to make it 73-58, Providence (10:02).

• Jones got loose again for another two-handed dunk off a pass from Daniels to keep the Friars in front with a comfortable lead (8:39).

• Erhunmwunse gathered another offensive board and kicked it back out for Edwards to step into another three-pointer and knock it down to give Providence the 11-point lead again, 80-69 (6:49).

• Sellers responded to a Xavier bucket with a step-back three from straight away to make it 83-73 with under six minutes remaining.

• Erhunmwunse was able to find a Mela miss off the rim and throw it down for another put-back dunk to extend the lead to 14 with under five minutes remaining (4:30).

• Sellers knocked down his fourth three of the night to make it 90-76 going into the under four-minute media timeout (3:09).

• Sellers got to his left again and was able to finish at the rim to extend the lead (2:21).

• The Friars were able to knock down free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

• Providence won, with a final score of 94-84.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Providence shot 33-61 (54.1%) from the field, 9-18 (50.0%) from three, and 19-25 (76.0%) from the free-throw line.

• Xavier shot 34-68 (50.0%) from the field, 5-22 (22.7%) from three, and 11-15 (73.3%) from the free-throw line.

• Four players finished in double figures for the Friars: Sellers (27), Edwards (24), Jones (19) and Erhunmwunse (10).

• Sellers recorded 25 or more points for the fifth time this season.

• Erhunmwunse recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

• Erhunmwunse has recorded 10 or more rebounds in nine of the last 11games.

• Sellers shot 10-14 (71.4%) from the field, marking a season high with a minimum of 10 shots.

• Providence won the rebound battle, 34-33.

• Providence held the lead for over 37 minutes.

UP NEXT:

The Friars will return to action when they travel to Omaha to take on Creighton University Bluejays at CHI Health Center. Tipoff is set for Saturday, Feb. 28 at 5:30 p.m. (E.T.) The game will be broadcast on TNT/TruTV.

-GO FRIARS!-

Next Event

Team Stats

Jaylin Sellers

Jason Edwards

Jamier Jones

Oswin Erhunmwunse

Players Mentioned

Jason Edwards

Oswin Erhunmwunse

Jamier Jones

Ryan Mela

Peteris Pinnis

Jaylin Sellers

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Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Xavier on February 25, 2026 , Win , 94, to, 84

Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at Creighton on February 28, 2026 at 5:30 p.m.

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Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Big East on March 12, 2026 at TBA

Providence College Athletics