COLLEGE

Providence 59, URI 50: Friars capture low-scoring rivalry renewal

Bill Koch
bkoch@providencejournal.com
PC's Maliek White of PC tries to get past the defense of Tyrese Martin of URI on Saturday.

PROVIDENCE — This was a proper rock fight befitting two bitter rivals, and the longer, stronger, more experienced team ultimately won out on Saturday evening at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

A.J. Reeves starred in his first time on the state’s biggest college basketball stage, veterans Isaiah Jackson and Nate Watson pitched in off the bench and home-court advantage did the rest.

Providence College won for the eighth straight time in this building against the University of Rhode Island, a 59-50 slugfest that marked the lowest-scoring output in the series in five years.

Reeves finished with a team-high 15 points while Jackson and Watson combined for 25 points and 16 rebounds off the bench. The Friars have won eight of the last nine games against the Rams, protecting their turf in alternating seasons since a 73-71 defeat in 2002-03.

“It wasn’t a pretty game to watch, and that’s your problem,” Providence coach Ed Cooley said. “I’m just happy to be the coach that won.”

URI connected at a season-low 29.8 percent from the field, including another dismal performance from 3-point range. The Rams were just 2-for-18 beyond the arc and are now 14-for-103 over their last five games. URI nearly matched that number of makes in its season opener, going 13-for-27 in a blowout of Bryant University.

“Obviously we could have moved the ball a little bit better, but we got some good looks,” URI coach David Cox said. “We got some point-blank looks as a matter of fact. We just couldn’t finish.

“Credit to Providence. Even though we had some of those point-blank looks, because of their physicality they wore us down a little bit.”

Providence hung on despite a lone field goal over the final 10:53, as URI also staggered, hitting just 4-for-19 shots over that stretch. That offensive futility from the hosts allowed the Rams to hang around, as Jeff Dowtin’s jumper from the right wing and a two-hand slam by Cyril Langevine made it 44-37 with 12:04 left. URI came no closer the rest of the way, as Reeves snapped a Friars’ scoreless drought of 5:26 with a layup.

“I remember watching on TV last year and coming to the game two years ago here,” Reeves said. “Being a fan in this is definitely different than actually playing in it. It’s totally different. But it’s so much fun.”

Fatts Russell and Jermaine Harris each fouled out for the Rams, combining to go 3-for-15 from the field. Russell couldn’t replicate his electrifying 20 points in last year’s 75-68 URI victory and Harris failed to duplicate his 15-point breakout in Wednesday’s 71-51 win over Brown University. Three of the nine players who saw action for the Rams finished scoreless.

“I thought we grew up defensively,” Cooley said. “Offensively, I’ve got to do a better job coaching, but defensively today I thought we were pretty impressive.”

Providence (6-2) closed the first half on a 9-2 run to build its largest lead going into the locker room at 39-27. URI (3-3) managed just one field goal over the last 2:41 as the Friars, hoping to prevent further foul trouble, switched to a 2-3 zone. Jimmy Nichols canned both ends of a 1-and-1 at the foul line with 4.7 seconds left to cap the Providence advantage.

“They went on a run and pushed that lead to 11, 12 points,” Cox said. “You go in at the half here in a hostile arena down double digits to a really good team and a really well-coached team, it’s too big of a hole.”

The Friars flashed their superior depth through the opening 20 minutes, hammering the Rams off the bench by a count of 21-2. Watson led Providence with nine points and Jackson chipped in eight, including a 3-pointer in transition with 0:35 left. Tyrese Martin accounted for the lone field goal among the URI reserves to that point.

“This wasn’t our first high-level game,” Cooley said. “We played a couple before. That really helped us with respect to their length and their speed. I thought they handled it well.”

Langevine powered the Rams with 18 points and 12 rebounds, tallying his fifth straight double-double. Dowtin was the only other URI player to reach double figures with 12 points. The two juniors accounted for nine field goals while the seven other Rams who appeared were 8-for-34.

“We didn’t have enough tonight,” Cox said. “I thought Cyril — another monster performance. We’re going to need a couple of other guys to step up on the offensive end if we’re going to win some of these hard-fought games.”

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25

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