Bullock Wins Game For PC, Will Face North Carolina on Saturday
Friday, March 18, 2016
The 9th seeded Providence College Friars defeated 8th seeded University of Southern California (USC) 70-69 on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina. The win is the Friars first tournament win in 19 years.
"Great finish. March Madness at its best. Very, very happy for our players. Hard-fought game. Came right down to the wire. Missed shots, missed free throws, but in the end, we prevailed and that's what this month is about, just advance however you can," said PC Head Coach Ed Cooley after the game.
The Cardiac Kids
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTProvidence trailed 69-68 with three seconds left in the game when Rodney Bullock took an inbounds pass from under the Trojans basket and layed it in as time expired.
"Kris and Ben took a lot of the attention away. I guess Drew saw me and made a great play and I just finished it," said Bullock after the game.
Before that, Providence trailed by as much as seven, 60-53, with 7:14 to play before a Kyron Cartwright three cut their deficit to just four.
The Friars would end up taking a lead, 61-60, after a Rodney Bullock three went down with 5:59 to play before USC would go on a 8-2 run to take a 68-63 lead with 2:40 to go.
The Friars would battle back to tie the game at 68, setting up last second heroics by Rodney Bullock.
Poor Finish to 1st Half
USC's Katin Reinhardt hit a three with one minute to play to give the Trojans a 36-35 lead which they would take into the half.
Prior to that Providence led 24-17 after a Rodney Bullock three with 11:42 to play in the game and then led 31-27 with 4 minutes to play.
Providence played the majority of the first half without Kris Dunn who picked up two fouls and sat on the bench for 9 minutes.
USC shot 53% from the field in the first half, including 50% from three.
The Leaders
The Friars were led by Ben Bentil who poured in 19 points on 7 of 21 shooting from the field.
Rodney Bullock and Kris Dunn each followed up with 16 points.
Moving on
Next up, the Friars will face top seeded North Carolina on Saturday. Carolina beat Providence in the NCAA Tournament two seasons ago.
Game time is set for 9:50 p.m.
More to come...
Related Slideshow: 5 Takeaways From PC’s 70-69 Win Over USC
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