PC Rolls St. John's in Regular Season Finale at MSG
Joe Calabro, GoLocalProv Sports Team
PC Rolls St. John's in Regular Season Finale at MSG
The win locks the Friars into the 4 seed for the upcoming Big East tournament.
A Much Needed Win
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAfter leading by 23 at the half, the Friars saw their lead cut to 13 on two separate occasions, the last one coming at 72-59 with 5:43 left to play.
However, on the next possession, Ben Bentil hit a three to stop any momentum that St. John's had.
The Red Storm out scored Providence 50-41 in the second half but overall, the game was never in doubt as PC's hot shooting first half gave them more than enough breathing room.
Jalen Lindsey and a Hot Shooting 1st Half
The first half of action was all about Jalen Lindsey and three-point shooting.
Jalen Lindsey scored the Friars first 8 points, 6 of which came by way of the three, giving Providence an 8-4 lead just a couple of minutes into the game.
Lindsey would go 7 of 8 from the field in the first half, including 4 of 5 from three-point land, scoring a career high 20 points and pulling down 7 rebounds in the half.
Lindsey had 4 of the 8 made threes for the Friars in the half.
Ben Bentil added 15 first half points helping the Friars build a 49-26 half time advantage.
The Leaders
The Friars were led by Jalen Lindsey who poured in 30 points on 10 of 15 shooting from the field, including 6 of 9 from three-point land. Lindsey also grabbed 8 rebounds.
Ben Bentil followed up with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Kris Dunn netted 13 points and dished out 11 assists.
Next up
PC now gets set to play in the Big East tournament starting this week. The Friars first game will be on Thursday, March 10 against Butler.
Game time is set for 2:30 p.m.
5 Takeaways From PC's 90-76 Win Over St. John's
Bracketology Report
The Friars are locked in to the #4 seed in the Big East tournament and will face Butler in the first round. The game is set for Thursday, March 10 at 2:30 p.m.
The Friars beat Butler both times during the regular season.
NCAA Tournament
With the win over St. John's and their 10-8 conference record, PC should be in the NCAA tournament.
In the most recent projections from ESPN's Joe Lunardi, the Friars are a 9 seed playing Texas Tech in the first round. Other 9 seeds include Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh and Syracuse.
Making noise in the Big East tournament can only improve the Friars seeding. Getting out of the 8/9 seed would be huge, givin that means PC would have to play the 1 seed in the second round.
Kris Dunn
Kris Dunn ended the game with 13 points and 11 assists for a double-double after only scoring 2 points in the first half in which PC took a 23 point lead into the locker room.
The fact that PC won and the Kris Dunn didn't need to do anything crazy is a good sign.
Providence needs contributions from others going forward if they are going to make any type of run in any tournament and this game was a good start.
Lindsey went for 30, Bentil had 23 and Kyron Cartwright contributed 7 points and 6 assists off the bench.
Let see if the confidence carries over to the next game.
Points off turnovers
Rodney Bullock co-led the Friars with 2 of the team's 9 steals in the game. Overall, Providence forced St. John's into 14 turnovers and turned those giveaways into 21 points at the offensive end.
The Friars turned the ball over 10 times and St. John's scored 10 points off of those turnovers.
Ben Bentil
Ben Bentil followed Jalen Lindsey with 23 points on 9 of 18 shooting from the field, including 4 of 10 from three.
With his 23 points, Bentil becomes the 7th Friar all-time to win the Big East scoring title, averaging 22.9 points per game during league play. He is also the fourth Friar in the last six years to win the honor.
Bentil also grabbed 10 rebounds for his 7th career double-double.
Jalen Lindsey
Jalen Lindsey led the Friars with a career high 30 points on 10 of 16 shooting from the field, including 6 of 9 from three.
Lindsey has struggled from long range for much of the season, shooting only 25% from three, maybe this game gets him going.
LIndsey also grabbed 6 rebounds in the game.
On the season, Providence has shot 31% from three, in this game, they shot 43%.
If the game of basketball is about confidence, Lindsey and the Friars have to have a ton of after this performance in New York. Especially since they are going back there in a couple of days.
