Big East Sports Blog

The Friars rebounded in the second half after trailing at halftime and the Peacocks’ shooting cooled off in the second frame, as Providence defeated St. Peter’s 83-78 on Monday afternoon.  Randall Hanke led Providence (9-3) with 23 points and 14 rebounds and Jeff Xavier filled up the stat sheet with 18 points, eight boards and seven assists. 

Despite four players scoring in double figures and a great first half shooting from beyond the arc, St. Peter’s couldn’t pull out a victory and dropped their seventh game in a row, falling to 3-9.  The Peacocks were white hot in the first half, shooting 58 percent from 3-point range on 7-of-12 shooting.  The Friars led early 16-7 in the first half, but the Peacocks used a 20-6 run to put them in front 27-22 and took a one point lead into intermission.

St. Peter’s went ice cold from 3-point range in the second half, shooting 2-of-15 from beyond the arc.  Raul Orta led the Peacocks with 18 points, all coming from 3-point land.  Orta was 6-of-9 from downtown, but was held to only six points in the second frame.  Providence took the lead back 46-45 almost four minutes into the second half and never trailed the remainder of the afternoon.

Providence will endure their first Big East test on Thursday when they travel to Marquette to take on the Golden Eagles at 9 p.m.

If you like offense, certainly this was your kind of game.  Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field.  Both teams had five players score in double figures.  In fact, the leading scorers for both squads had 27 points.  But this offensive shootout belong to the Friars on this afternoon.

Jeff Xavier score 27 points, 21 of them from three-point range, and Weyinmi Efejuku poured in 25 points to lead Providence over Florida State on Saturday afternoon 101-95.

The victory marks the third straight for Providence, as they improve to 8-3, while the loss drops Florida State to 10-4.

Jason Rich and Toney Douglas weren’t a bad one-two combo to have on this afternoon either, only Xavier and Efejuku were a little bit better.  Rich led the Seminoles with 27 points and Douglas added 22.

The Friars were blazing from beyond the arc, shooting 60 percent from three-point range, including nailing six three’s on their first ten shots to open the ballgame.

The Friars took a 49-41 lead at the half, but couldn’t separate themselves from the Seminoles in the second half until it came down to crunch time.  The Seminoles fought to tie the game up at 73, but another Providence surge had the Friars ahead 92-81.  The Seminoles still had one final run in them, using two three-pointers to close the gap to five with 90 seconds left to play.  Providence finally iced the game from the free throw line, burying nine foul shots to ensure victory. 

Providence will have a nine day layoff now, and they’ll return to action on New Year’s Eve, Monday, Dec. 31st when they host St. Peter’s at 2 p.m.

Providence got double-doubles from junior Geoff McDermott and junior Weyinmi Efejuku, as the Friars knocked off the Pioneers from Sacred Heart 94-89 on Wednesday night. 

Efejuku scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, McDermott added 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.  McDermott also turned in six assists, six blocks and three steals, filling up the stat sheet for Providence.

Sacred Heart had four players in double figures in the contest, led by Ryon Howard with 16 points.  Luke Granato and Chauncey Hardy added 15 points apiece and Drew Shubik dished out a game-high 12 assists. 

The Friars took an 11-point advantage into halftime, on top 49-38, but Pioneers came out storming in the second half.  Careless ballhandling led to 16 turnover by the Friars, and the Pioneers capitalized on the mistakes by Providence.  Sacred Heart used a 28-11 run to take the lead, 70-67, with just over nine minutes left to play in the second half.  However, Sacred Heart’s lead would not hold up.

A pair of free throws by McDermott with a little over nine minutes to play in the ballgame tied the score at 71-71 and Providence outscored Sacred Heart 23-18 the rest of the way. The loss drops Sacred Heart to 3-7, snapping their season-high three-game winning streak.

Providence improves to 7-3 on the year, and they will put their undefeated home record (4-0) to the test, when they host Florida State  on Saturday Dec.22nd at 4 p.m.