PC Upsets St. John’s at Madison Square Garden

PC Upsets St. John’s at Madison Square Garden

The struggling Providence College men’s basketball team looked like it was going to be run out of Madison Square on Saturday against St. John’s.

The Friars fell behind 13-0 and then battled back to take the lead against  St. John’s late in the first half.

PC coach Kim English mixed up the starting lineup by sitting Ryan Mela and Stefan Vaaks and starting Jamier Jones and Jason Edwards.

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With the Friars leading 25-24, with 4:10 left in the first half, the two benches emptied as the two teams nearly went toe-to-toe.

St. John’s led at the half, 38-31.

Zuby Ejiofor put on a show for the Red Storm. He finished with 33 points and 15 rebounds.

The Friars were led by Vaaks, 16 points -- 14 in the second half.

The Friars went ice cold leading up to the 8-minute time-out, going just 1-10.

Then, PC came alive with an 8-0 scoring run in just over a minute to cut the St. John’s lead to 64-63 with 4:42 left in the game.

The game went back and forth, St. John's jumped up by 7, and then Vaaks hit a four-point play.

With one minute left, the Friars led 73-71, and St. John’s did not score again.

The Friars won 77-71.

St. John’s falls to 9-5, 2-1 in the Big East, and the Friars improve to 8-6 and 1-2 in the conference.

Former Friar Bryce Hopkins was just 3 for 13 with 9 points.

 

DATA:

• Providence shot 25-64 (39.1%) from the field, 6-18 (33.3%) from three, and 21-28 (75.0%) from the free-throw line.   

• St. John's shot 20-71 (28.2%) from the field, 7-31 (22.6%) from three, and 24-37 (64.9%) from the free-throw line.     

• The Friars finished with five players in double figures: Vaaks (16), Jones (15), Sellers (15), Edwards (11) and Erhunmwunse (10).  

• PC's Jones recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. 

• The Friars held a large advantage in points in the paint, scoring 38 to St. John's 20.  

• The Friars have registered a 59-68 mark all-time versus St. John's.  

• The Red Storm are the Friars' second most common opponent, with 127 games played against St. John's.  

• The Friars are 22-37 all-time on the road versus the Red Storm.  

 

NEXT: 

PC hosts UConn on Wednesday at 7 PM.