The Providence College Friars men's basketball team (17 - 6, 7 - 3) defeated the (15 - 7, 7 - 4) Georgetown Hoyas 74 - 71 on Wednesday night in Washington D.C. The win is the Friars first road win over a ranked opponent since 2004, a span of 31 games.
See the five takeaways slideshow below.
Also, this marks the first Friars win at Georgetown since 2005 and the first time the Friars have defeated the Hoyas twice in a season since 1994.
Providence trailed by 13 points, 59 - 46, with just over 12 minutes to play in the half before a LaDontae Henton three pointer sparked he Friars on a 20 - 6 run to take a 66 - 65 lead in the game.
The Hoyas would have a 71 - 70 lead with 32 seconds left until Carson Desrosiers got himself to the free throw line with the shot clock winding down and nailed both shots from the charity stripe.
Ben Bentil followed up with two free throws of his own a few seconds later and the Friars held on for the 74 - 71 win.
Leading the way.
Bentil led the Friars with 16 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double while LaDontae Henton poured in 16 points of his own.
Georgetown was led by D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera who netted a game high 21 points.
Next up.
The Friars return to action on Saturday, February 7 when they visit Xavier. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.
For a further look at the Friars win, see the five takeaways slideshow below.
Related Slideshow: Five Takeaways From the Friars 74 - 71 Win Over Georgetown
The Providence College Friars men's basketball team (17 - 6, 7 - 3) defeated the (15 - 7, 7 - 4) Georgetown Hoyas 74 - 71 on Wednesday night in Washington D.C.
Ben Bentil had the best game of his young career against Georgetown, netting 16 points and pulling down 11 rebounds for his first career double-double.
Bentil knocked down eight of his nine free throws including two free throws at the end of the game to give Providence a three point lead, two of the biggest free throws of the season to this point.
Bentil's 16 points came on 4 - of - 7 shooting from the field and four of his 11 rebounds came on the offensive glass.
Ben Bentil has been in double-figures in two of the last three games for the Friars ad looks to be a factor come tournament time.
On the broadcast of the game, it was revealed that LaDontae Henton has not been playing at 100% as he has a number of nagging injuries.
This helps explain why he has not been shooting all that great from the field over the last few games and reinforces the fact that Providence needs others to step up (Tyler Harris) as the season winds down and the tournaments approach.
With that said, a less than 100 % Henton knocked down a three-pointer that helped spark the Friars to a 20 - 6 run in the second half to take the lead after being down 13 points.
Henton shot 4 - of - 11 from the field and netted 16 points and grabbed six rebounds in the game.
The broadcast also revealed that Kris Dunn has been having back issues over the last couple of days and going into the Georgetown game, head coach Ed Cooley was not sure what he was going to get from Dunn.
Well, despite the back issues, Dunn netted 12 points on 3 - of - 5 shooting from the field and dished out nine assists while grabbing six steals in the game.
Dunn also turned the ball over five times but with I will cut him SOME slack there because he is playing injured.
With 1:51 left in the game, the referees called Kyron Cartwright for a foul on Jabril Trawick who continued to go to the basket but was a bit off balance. Carson Desrosiers came over to block him and knocked him to the ground.
The referees called the Cartwright foul and then called a dead ball technical foul on Desrosiers as Trawick hit the ground hard, more so because he was off balance then because of Desrosiers.
Georgetown got four free throws and the ball out of the whole deal and would regain the lead to the dismay of a furious Ed Cooley.
The Friars didn't let it get to them though and just pushed on and executed down the stretch and won the game.
With Friar teams of the past and other teams around the country, it may have gone the other way, especially on the road.
After a bad loss to St. John's in their previous game the season was on the edge with two more road games ahead and then two tough home games after that.
However, with the Friars stunning # 24 Georgetown 74 - 71 on Wednesday night, everything changes. This was the biggest win of the season so far.
PC is now 7 - 3 and as I've been saying they need to get to 10 conference wins and they are very much on pace to do that now. Plus, they now own any tiebreaker with the Hoyas which could be no small matter if the conference stays as closely packed as everyone projects it to.
This win also makes up for the bad home loss to St. John's a little over a week and a half ago.
Looking ahead, If the Friars can beat Xavier on Saturday, another tough road game, that would set up a HUGE showdown with Villanova next Wednesday night in Providence.
Either way, Villanova will be a huge game, but if PC can notch an eighth conference win against Xavier, then it will really be game on at the Dunk.
