PC’s Duke Goes for 30, But Xavier’s Jones Hit 3 At Buzzer to Beat Friars 74-73

PC’s Duke Goes for 30, But Xavier’s Jones Hit 3 At Buzzer to Beat Friars 74-73

The Providence College Friars had a tremendous run to take command of their game against Xavier and led by seven points.

An 11-0 run launched the Friars to a 73-66 lead with just 1:07 left in the game. 

And then they never scored again. 

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Xavier came back with 5 straight points and cut the PC lead to 73-71 with just :36 left.

The Friars with just 16 seconds left turned the ball over as the shot clock was expiring.

Xavier then made three rotation passes and Xavier’s Colby Jones was left wide open and drained a three with 00.1 left of the clock.

The loss is a blemish on the Friar’s David Duke’s 30-point performance. He was 11-18 from the field and 7-9 from three-point range. Duke is making a clear run for Big East Player-of-the-Year and All-American.

Duke went in Sunday as the Big East’s third-leading scorer at 19.3 ppg.

Nate Watson had 17 points -- but a difficult first half and was just 1-4 from the line. He did finish with 14 rebounds. 

Xavier was led by Zach Freemantle with 17

The Friars fall to 7-5 and Xavier is now 10-2.

 

STATS:

Sunday's game marks the Friars' first road contest since they were defeated at Butler on December 23.

The Friars are playing four of the next five and five or the next seven games on the road.

PC is now 3-3 in their last six games versus Xavier.

Ed Cooley has posted a 7-9 mark all-time versus Xavier as the Friars' Head Coach.

The Friars had three consecutive games postponed due to opponents having COVID issues (Xavier on Dec. 12, UConn on Dec. 17 and DePaul on Dec. 17).

The Friars are 1-2 this season vs. Power 5 teams with a win versus TCU (Big 12) and losses to Indiana (Big 10) and Alabama (SEC).