Jamine Peterson Had 29 Points and 20 Rebounds to Lead PC
The Providence Friars (10-6, 2-2) scored early and often, building a big lead that they could sit on the entire second half, as they defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-7, 0-3), 94-81, at the Dunkin Donuts Center on Saturday Night.
This game was never really that close, as the Friars started the game off in a manner Friar fans should be able to expect. After a Jonathan Mitchell three cut the Friar lead to 4-3 with 18:15 left in the first half, the Friars went on an 8-0 run and never seemed to really look back. Another Jonathan Mitchell three cut that Friar lead to 12-9 with 15:33 left, but the Friars would then outscore Rutgers 41-22 over the next fourteen minutes, holding a 53-33 lead with 1:17 remaining in the first half. Jamine “Greedy” Peterson had an excellent first half after a disappointing game Wednesday night, scoring 24 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in the first half alone. A Peterson dunk with two seconds left in the half would take the Friars to halftime with a 55-38 lead.
However, as exciting as the first half was, the second half proved to be a great adventure. The first three minutes of the half where very back and forth, with the Friars leading 63-44 with 16:32 left. But at this point when the game may have seemed over, Rutgers was able to cut into the lead and make it a game. A quick 9-2 run had Rutgers down only 65-53 with 13:44 remaining. The teams would again play back and forth for a while, with a Sharaud Curry layup putting the Friars up 75-59 with 8:26 left. However, Rutgers would again go on a 9-2 run to cut the Friars lead 77-68 with 5:08 remaining on a Hamady Ndaiye dunk. The teams would again play relatively even into the final minutes, but after Jamine Peterson missed a a few free throws, a Dane Miller layup with 58 seconds left cut the Friars lead to 88-81. The Friars would make sure to keep the ball in Sharaud Curry’s hands, as the senior captain hit 5-6 free throws down the stretch to ice the game, and his steal with 24 seconds left would end the game at 94-81.
Jamine Peterson led the Friars with 29 points and 20 rebounds, and while he was 3-6 from three, was only 4-10 from the foul line. Sharaud Curry added 21 points, and Marshon Brooks had 15 points and 6 rebounds. Brooks was injured twice in the game, once in the first half when he was hit in the head (no call), and once in the second half when he rolled his ankle driving to the basket. The injury did not appear serious as Brooks later returned to the game and did not appear to have any ankle issues down the stretch.
Dane Miller came off the bench for Rutgers to score 26 points and 7 rebounds, as the Friars certainly had not prepared for him. Jonathan Mitchell had 18 points and 7 rebounds, while Hamady Ndaiye had 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Rutgers superstar Mike Rosario scored only two points on 1-11 shooting in 34 minutes before fouling out.
The Friars will next go on the road to face the DePaul Blue Demons (7-8, 0-3) on Thursday night. DePaul has lost 23 straight against Big East competition, so they are looking forward to facing a team at home that is supposed to be in the lower quarter of the Big East.
My Reaction:
Well, this game certainly had its moments. The Friars of the first half seemed a lot like the team that fans would like to see every night. They moved the ball well, and all of our important players were hitting shots.
It seems like Keno Davis’ rumors of a lineup shakeup really scared the players. Both Peterson and Brian McKenzie, both rumored to be moving potentially to the bench, had big games. McKenzie had 11 points on 3-6 shooting, although he did not provide much offense in the second half.
I think part of the Friars offensive struggles in the second half were due to the inconsistent play of Peterson. He did score 24 points in the first half, but only 5 in the second half. Couple that with his extremely poor foul shooting, and the Friars struggled to find a rhythm. The Friars need consistency to win. 29 points is a great game, I am not denying him that, but you need to be able to duplicate your intensity in the second half. If he had been able to do that, this game would have been a thirty point blowout and not a game that ended up requiring clutch foul shooting down the stretch. However, before Curry went 5-6 down the stretch, the Friars were only shooting 16-31 from the foul line. You cannot shoot that poorly from the line and expect to win many Big East games.
However, this was one of the first times all season that the entire offense seemed involved, where every player seemed to know his role and excel in it. Even though Peterson had his 29 points, it was important for both Brooks and Curry to also execute, and they did a good job of that.
And just for the record, Vincent Council again put up impressive numbers, with 9 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds. I sure do love a stat line like that.
The Friars now get a weak DePaul team on the road. This should be a win, but we all should remember how tight the Blue Demons played the Friars in the Big East Tournament last year, a game that Friar fans had all declared a win beforehand, but we needed a late run to steal it. If the Friars show up and play with intensity, it should be a win, but thats a debate for another time.
