Friars find their way, dispatch Blue Demons

Friars find their way, dispatch Blue Demons

For the Providence Friars, getting a Big East win on the road has been about as easy as picking up a 7-10 split at the local bowling alley, with your buddies screaming in your ear.

Yet Saturday afternoon in suburban Chicago, the Friars found a way to shut out the noise, and come up with big plays when they needed them most. The league road victory that had eluded their grasp for 22 games finally came to pass, as the Friars held off the DePaul Blue Demons 73-71 at Allstate Arena behind 24 points and a career high 15 rebounds from freshman forward LaDontae Henton.

“Wow. Did we get any ‘holy moly’s’ in that one?’ Coach Ed Cooley asked after the win. “LaDontae (Henton) was big time. We really needed that. I’m proud of our guys for battling and not giving up, and we finally found a way to come up with a play, on both ends of the court.”

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Henton powered his way to his eighth double-double of the season, and Vincent Council chipped in 14 points with 11 assists (his 8th double-double) as well…but it took a Henton block of sophomore sensation Cleveland Melvin on a corner jump shot at the buzzer to keep the Blue Demons from sending the Friars to another heart-wrenching defeat.

DePaul’s offense came into the contest averaging 74 points per game, their best output in 17 seasons. Statistically, they have a tremendous one-two punch in sophomores Melvin (17.7 points per game) and Brandon Young (14.9), both all-Big East rookie team members a year ago. The 6-8 Melvin was the league’s rookie of the year – yet despite managing only four points in the first half, the Demons used balanced scoring as nine different players picked up the slack, got into the scoring column and gave DePaul a 37-35 lead at halftime.

The key to the Demon’s lead came from the offensive backboards – 15 offensive rebounds led to 16 second-chance points. The Friars knew that had to change and change quickly, once the second half began.

With DePaul holding a 45-41 lead and 17:50 remaining in the second half, PC started a 19-4 run over the next eight minutes to grab the game’s largest lead at 60-49. Henton supplied much of the firepower from the foul line as well as with his strong post play on both ends. Bryce Cotton finally shot his way out of a three-game shooting slump and hit two key three-pointers during the stretch.

The Blue Demons pulled back within four at 60-56, when Henton hit a three from the right corner to stop a 7-0 spurt that had the Friars reeling with just over seven minutes left. Again, DePaul wasn’t done – with PC up 69-60 and 5:27 to play, Young began to take over. Scoring five points of his own, and finding Moses Morgan for a deep three, DePaul managed to tie the score at 71 after a 9-2 run.

That simply set the stage for “Buckets” to show his stuff, with 33 ticks left on the clock.

With a group of about 30 friends and family cheering in the stands, Henton buried a jump shot from just inside the top of the key, taking a pass from Council, with :01.7 seconds to play. After a DePaul time out to set up a final attempt, Henton again came to the rescue, blocking Melvin’s shot at the buzzer from the corner just in front of the Demons’ bench. DePaul coach Oliver Purnell ran onto the court, pleading for a foul call.

None came. And the Friars found themselves winners on the road for a 4th time this season, but the first time in the Big East since a win in the same building on January 14, 2010.

It’s been awhile. About as often as you find that 7-10 split down at your local lanes.

Friar Notes

With some travel difficulties getting to Chicago due to snow on Thursday and Friday, the Friars’ trip to the Midwest was delayed by more than two hours Friday afternoon. After landing – and missing their appointed practice time halfway across town on the DePaul campus, with rush hour traffic in full swing – Ed Cooley took a different tact. He called off practice, and took the team bowling. “We just felt like it was something we needed to do, since practicing really wasn’t going to help us all that much with the travel trouble,” the coach said. “I thought, we needed to lighten things up. And we have some really bad bowlers! But we had fun. And I thought it helped us come together.” For the record, sophomore Ted Bancroft was the top bowler, while freshman Brice Kofane (from Yaounde, Cameroon) had never picked up a bowling ball in his life. Reportedly, it showed…the second half rebounding effort for the Friars was a big key to their overall success, limiting DePaul to just 4 offensive rebounds (after grabbing 15 in the first half) and only two second-chance points. PC ended up with a 48-41 rebound advantage, the most in a Big East game this season…Cotton’s offensive slump subsided long enough for the Tucson, AZ sophomore to score 19 points on 8-14 shooting. He had scored just 15 points total over his previous three games combined…the Friars hit just 39% of their shots overall, but got the big ones to go down when they needed them, hitting 5 of 9 from three point range…PC also outscored the Blue Demons 16-8 from the free throw line…Moses Morgan led four Demons in double figures with 13 points, as the Friar defense limited Melvin and Young to 10 (on 5-of-15 field goals) and 11 points (3-of-9), respectively…Melvin grabbed 12 rebounds as well, his 3rd straight double-double and his 6th of the season…DePaul has now lost eight straight overall, with a few of those defeats over the course of the season in last-minute fashion, much like their counterparts in black on the floor…PC, snapping a five-game losing skid Saturday, has now won five of the last six against DePaul and the Friars lead the overall series 22-7…next up, defending national champion UConn in the Dunkin Donuts Center Tuesday night in a 7:00 pm tip-off (103.7 WEEI-FM, friars.com) for the final regular season game of the year…the first 2500 fans through the turnstiles will receive either a loose stone cubic zirconia, or a one-carat diamond, courtesy of Hannoush Jewelers…