St. John's 86, Providence 76 - D`Angelo Harrison had 22 points, half of those coming from the free throw line, and JaKarr Sampson had 21 as the Red Storm outlasted Providence for their fifth win in their last six games. The only loss was a three point decision at Creighton.
The Johnnies got out to a hot start, hitting six of their first 10 shots while building a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes. By the midpoint of the half, the lead was 14, and it would eventually balloon as high as 19. But Bryce Cotton did his damndest, scoring 10 points along the way and keeping the Friars within 16 at the break.
A three pointer from Harrison made the gap 23 with just under 15 to play, and that's when the Friars woke up. The Red Storm committed four turnovers and Providence uncorked a 19-2 run over the next seven minutes, and we had ourselves a ball game. Sadly, the Friars went the next five minutes without scoring at all, and St. John's was able to get the lead back to double digits, and it was all the lead they would need. LaDontae Henton made the lead just five points with 45 seconds left, but after Harrison canned two of his free throws, Henton missed a three pointer. Sir`Dominic Pointer followed that miss with a dunk of his own, and that was that.
Bryce Cotton had a Big East personal best 32 points to go along with four rebounds and six assists in his attempt to will PC to the victory. You can head over to Rumble In The Garden to learn more, or check out these highlights from Fox Sports: