PC Falls to St. John's at Madison Square Garden, 68-73

PC Falls to St. John's at Madison Square Garden, 68-73

The No. 20/17 Providence College men's basketball team fell to St. John's, 73-68, on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York.

With the loss, the Friars fell to 18-7 overall and 10-4 in Big East play. 

Bryce Hopkins led the Friars in scoring, tying his career high with 29 points.  He also added nine rebounds. 

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Devin Carter had 12 points and seven rebounds.
 
FIRST HALF:

-Devin Carter (Miami, Fla.) drove to the basket to start the scoring for the Friars.
-After a seven-point Red Storm run, Noah Locke (Baltimore, Md.) knocked down a corner three. St. John's held a slim 7-5 lead heading into the first media timeout.
-The Red Storm went on a 7-0 scoring run in a minute span forcing a Providence timeout with 14:23 left in the half.
-At the 14:00 mark, Hopkins ended a three-minute scoring drought for the Friars by knocking down a three from the top of the key.
-The Friars struggled to find an offensive rhythm and endured another three minute scoring drought that ended by a Jared Bynum (Largo, Md.) three pointer. St. John's led 25-12.
-Providence went on a 6-0 scoring run in a thirty second span that consisted of a Hopkins three-point play, followed by back-to-back three pointers from Bynum and Carter to cut the Friars deficit to single digits, 32-25.
-At the 1:06 mark, Hopkins knocked down a contested layup bringing the Friars within two, 37-35 ending the scoring for the half.
-Providence shot 12-38 (31.6%) from the field, 5-12 (41.7%) from three and 6-7 (85.7%) from the free throw line. 
-St. John's shot 16-33 (48.5%) from the field, 4-10 (40%) from three and 1-1 (100%) from the free throw line. 
 
SECOND HALF:

-Carter knocked down a layup to start the second half scoring for the Friars.
-At the 17:09 mark, Locke knocked down a jumper and evened the score at 39.
-The Friars trailed by one at the first media timeout, 43-43.
-At the 11:35 mark, Carter hit a contested dunk to bring the Friars back to within four heading into the timeout, 52-48.
-St. John's went on a 6-0 scoring run over a two-minute span to extend their lead to 10, 62-52.
-Both teams went on scoring droughts for over three minutes, St. John's Dylan Addae-Wusu ended the drought at the 2:42 mark. St. John's led 66-57.
 
 
NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS:

-Providence finished 24-72 (33.3%) from the field, 7-23 (30.4%) from three and 13-17 (76.5%) from the free throw line. 
-St. John's finished 27-61 (44.3%) from the field, 4-18 (22.2%) from three and 15-18 (83.3%) from the free throw line. 
-Two players finished in double figures for the Friars, Hopkins (29) and Carter (12).
-The Friars are now 5-5 in road games this season, including 4-4 in BIG EAST action.
-The Friars outrebounded the Red Storm, 49-36.
-The Friars are ranked No. 20 in the AP Poll and No. 17 in the Coaches Poll. It is the team's fifth week in the polls.
-Bynum eclipsed 1,000 points for his career in the Friars' loss at Xavier on Feb. 1, 2023. 
 
WHAT'S NEXT:

The Friars will host No. 23 Creighton on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, R.I. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. on FS1.  

It will be the team's annual Pinkout Friartown game.