Things were somewhat lackadaisical early again but Providence managed to get out to a 25-8 lead with just under 8 minutes in the first half and everything seemed to be happening as expected at the Dunkin Donuts Center. Five turnovers in less than 4 minutes would allow Binghamton back into the game though as the Bearcats went on a 14-2 run to get the score to 27-22 at the 4:17 mark.

Providence would get the lead back up to 11 following the under 4 minute media timeout but the scrappy Bearcats would claw back again to make the halftime margin only 4 points at 33-29. A 9pm Monday tip, which really started closer to 9:15pm, meant that the Dunk was nearly empty so there wasn’t a lot of crowd energy to give the Friars an assist.

I have to assume Ed Cooley had a spirited discussion with his team at the half and they came out and looked much more focused. Binghamton went iced-aged cold and Providence did a better job taking care of the ball.

Providence started the half on a 29-3 run over the first twelve minutes and 47 seconds of the half and opened up a lead that got as large as 29 points before Binghamton managed to make a few shots. The Bearcats first made field goal of the 2nd half took more 13 minutes.

The biggest takeaway from tonight’s game in my opinion is that Kris Dunn shook off some of the rust and had a better game than the season opener.

https://twitter.com/terrence_payne/status/534534722580643840

The freshmen still made mistakes and there were moments when Ed Cooley clearly wanted to lose his mind on the sidelines but the freshmen also showed some positives with Ben Bentil having a solid game and Paschal Chukwu getting some more minutes. Jalen Lindsey had a highlight reel dunk. Kyron Cartwright had 5 assists and 6 points and started for the second straight game.

LaDontae Henton struggled a bit in the first half and had some inexplicable turnovers but he was the leading scorer for Providence with 12 points. Tyler Harris did most of his scoring at the line and finished with 11 points while Dunn was the only other Friar scoring in double digits with 10 points. Dunn also added 7 assists and 5 rebounds while Carson Desrosiers had 10 boards and 8 points.

Improving the 2-0 is all Ed Cooley cares about right now but there is no rest for the Friars as they will welcome Navy to the Dunk Thursday night as part two of two of their campus site portion of the Hall of Fame Tipoff schedule.