PC Suffers Another Heartbreaking Loss to #15 St. John’s

PC Suffers Another Heartbreaking Loss to #15 St. John’s

The Providence College men's basketball team was defeated by the No. 15/14 St. John's Red Storm (19-3, 10-1 BIG EAST), 68-66, on Saturday, at Madison Square Garden in New York.

It was the second brutal defeat this season to St. John’s. The Friars lost 72-70 to the Johnnies in Providence in December.

The Friars moved to 11-11 overall and 5-6 in Big East play. The Friars trailed by 19 points (53-34) with 10 minutes remaining and went on a 32-13 run to tie the game at 66 with 33 seconds left. However, SJU's Khadary Richmond hit a jumper with three seconds left to give the Red Storm the win.

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The Friar’s Jabri Abdur-Rahim led the scoring with 27 points on a career-high eight triples.  Abdur-Rahim's eight threes marked the most for any Big East player in a game this season.

Bensley Joseph anchored the team with a career-best 12 rebounds and seven assists. Forty-four of the Friars' 66 points tonight came from the bench.  

"Disappointing outcome," Head Coach Kim English said. "I thought it was a great Big East game. Our guys fought hard and showed great resolve. We got to get back, get better and get ready for another hard matchup next week." 

 

FIRST HALF: 

- The Red Storm opened the half with six unanswered points. Jayden Pierre kicked off the Friars' scoring with a pull-up jumper.  
- St. John's entered a roughly four-minute scoring drought. PC trailed 6-4 through the first six minutes of action.  
Abdur-Rahim highlighted a 10-2 run from the Friars with back-to-back triples that gave Providence its first lead of the game, 10-8 (11:45 mark). 
- The Johnnies faced offensive difficulties, committing five turnovers and making just one of their last 17 shots with eight minutes to go.  
- The Red Storm regained the lead with a 7-0 surge in the final minutes of the half. The Friars trailed 25-21 entering the locker-room.  
- Abdur-Rahim was the first player to reach double-digit scoring with 11 points on a 4-6 effort from the field and 3-5 from three.  
19 of Providence's 21 first-half points came off the bench. St. John's had three.   

 

SECOND HALF: 

- St. John's started the second half by extending its lead to 29-21. The Friars trailed 29-21 entering the first media timeout (17:31).  
- Oswin Erhunmwunse (Benin City, Nigeria) opened the Friars' second-half scoring with a three-point play after converting a layup and drawing a foul. 
- With 13:57 on the clock, The Red Storm jumped out to a 42-28 lead, capping off an 11-0 run. 
- The Friars found a spark in the final five minutes with a 13-4 run in the span of two minutes. PC brought the score within nine, 59-50 (4:59). 
- PC continued to keep the momentum on its side as Abdur-Rahim hit his eighth triple which marked a new career-high for the graduate student. The Friars trailed by one with 2:19 remaining.  
-With 33 seconds left, Joseph flushed a three-pointer from deep to tie the score at 66. SJU's Kadary Richmond answered with a jumper to retake the lead for the Red Storm. -Bensley attempted a last-second shot from half-court for the win but fell short. The Friars were defeated, 68-66.  

HIGHLIGHTS:  

- Two players finished in double figures for the Friars: Abdur-Rahim (27) and Pierre (11).  
- Forty-four of the Friars' 66 points (66.7%) came off the bench.  
- The Friars controlled the rebound battle by a margin of seven (39-32). 
- Abdur-Rahim set a new career-high with eight threes. He finished with a game-high 27 points.  
- Joseph finished with a career-best 12 rebounds and seven assists.  
- SJU's Kadary Richmond and RJ Luis Jr. combined for 43 points.  

 

NOTES: 

PC has now posted a 133-288 mark all-time versus top-25 teams, including a 0-4 mark this season. 
The Friars have now registered a 58-68 mark all-time versus St. John's. 
The Friars are now 9-7 in their last 15 games versus St. John's 
St. John's is the Friars' second most common opponent with 125 games played against the Red Storm (URI-134, St. John's-126). 
The last time a Friar had eight threes in a game was Feb. 2, 2005, when Donnie McGrath made nine vs. Virginia.

 

NEXT: 

The Friars return home to take on the Creighton Bluejays on Wednesday, Feb. 5, in a Pink-Out Friartown matchup in Providence, R.I. 
Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. The game will air live on FS1.