Friars Raise Banner, Edge Albany 64-60

Friars Raise Banner, Edge Albany 64-60

The Providence College Friars (1-0) defeated the Albany Great Danes (0-1) of the America East Conference 64-60 on Saturday night at The Dunkin Donuts Center in front of a crowd of just under 10,000 people. Prior to the game, the Friars raised their Big East Championship banner to the rafters in a championship ceremony that also served as a final look back at last season, at least for the players and coaches. 

Carrying the load

Junior Tyler Harris led the Friars with 23 points and five rebounds while senior LaDontae Henton had a double-double with 21 points and ten rebounds for the Friars.

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Henton and Harris combined for 44 of the Friars 64 points in the game, something that the Friars will need to see more of, especially early on in the season. 

For the Great Danes, guard Evan Singletary led the way with 18 points and three assists, while his fellow guard Peter Hooley put up 15 points and six assists in the loss. 

Rusty

Point guard Kris Dunn looked a bit rusty in his first game after sitting out of the majority of the last two seasons with an injury. In the game, Dunn had two points and two assists and picked up four personal fouls. His two points came on two clutch free throws with time winding down that sealed the win for PC.

However, he missed all five of the shots that he took from the floor. 

The freshmen

Lots of attention was paid to the freshmen coming into this season and in their first game they showed flashes of what they can do. Kyron Cartwright started the game and played 34 minutes scoring eight points and dishing out five assists. He also did much of the ball handling in tonights game. Jalen Lindsey played 13 minutes but didn't register a point in the four shots that he attempted from the field. 

Ben Bentil played 15 minutes in the game and had four points and six rebounds, including a nice post move in the second half. The 7'2" Paschal Chukwu only played four minutes in the game and had one block.

Lastly, Junior Lamomba only played eight minutes in the game and came up with one steal, two points and two rebounds. 

Relax

The general tone of the fans after the game was a little dissapointment that PC only beat Albany by four points. As Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said "relax."

Albany is a good team, they have been in the NCAA Tournament the last two years, and last year they gave Florida a run for their money in the first round. The Great Danes were picked to finish third in the American East Conference, in part because they are only returning two players from last years squad. Albany has good guard play, and they are a good shooting team, shooting 47 percent from the field and 41 percent from three-point land.  

Providence is a young team this year with a lot of new parts, and it is going to take them time to gel and take the freshmen time to get adjusted. 

Next UP

The Friars stay home to take on Binghamton on Monday night at 9 p.m. as part of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament. 

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