Friars Suffer Bad Home Loss, Fall To St. John’s 67-65

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Sunday, January 02, 2011

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

If you were optimistic about what the Providence Friars might be able to accomplish in the Big East this season following their hard fought loss at Syracuse Tuesday night, you should be equally pessimistic about their chances following yesterday’s game.

If the Friars are to make any noise in the conference this season, it is a must to win games at the Dunk, particularly against teams in the lower half of the league. That didn’t happen Saturday as PC (11-4, 0-2 Big East) lost to St. John’s (9-3, 2-0 Big East) 67-65.

The Red Storm led for the first 12 minutes of the game before Marshon Brooks (20 pts) put the Friars up 11-10 on a lay-up with 7:54 to play in the first half.

Minutes later, another Brooks lay-in gave the Friars their largest lead of the game (6 points) 16-10.

Dwight Hardy (21 pts) then went on a run for St. John’s scoring 10 of the Red Storm’s final 16 points of the half putting them up 28-24 at the break.

Hardy came out firing in the second half as well hitting three three-pointers and a pair of freethrows staking the Johnnies to their largest lead of the game (12 points) 51-39.

After Keno Davis called a timeout with 12:16 to play, the Friars went on a 23-9 run capped off by a Vincent Council (14 pts, 6 assists, 4 steals) bucket to go up 62-60 with 2:21 left.

But the Red Storm rattled off the next 7 points and held off the Friars dropping PC to a disappointing 0-2 in the Big East.

While PC’s improved defense did force 16 St. John’s turnovers, the Red Storm shot 53% (29-55) from the field against the Friars. There’s still lots of room for improvement on that end of the floor.

Next up for the Friars is a match-up at the Dunk with Pittsburgh Tuesday night. The 6th-ranked Panthers are (13-1, 1-0 Big East). They throttled #4 UConn 78-63 in their Big East opener.
 

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