“That was an old-school Big East war.”

Ed Cooley said that during his opening statement of the postgame press conference. It certainly had an old-school feel. The first half was a rock fight with both teams shooting under 30% from the field. Providence led by as much as 6 in the opening stanza but Georgetown was able to overcome that deficit to take a 2 point lead into the locker room, 23-21.

Georgetown started making shots in the second half and the Hoyas seemed to be taking control of the game as Providence’s offensive woes continued. The Hoyas led by as much as 7 in the second half behind 12 points from D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera and 7 points from Josh Smith. Some key plays by LaDontae Henton, Kris Dunn and Jalen Lindsey closed the gap to tie the game at 41 with 5:27 left in the second half.

Henton made 3 of 4 free throws at the end of the game to give the Friars a 50-48 lead with 21 seconds on the clock. Georgetown would bring the ball to the front court to call timeout and draw up a play. That play resulted in Paul White taking a contested 3-pointer and the rebound deflected into the soft hands of Josh Smith who floated the ball over his left shoulder to tie the game at 50 with only 1.3 seconds on the clock.

The overtime session began with Paul White scoring along the baseline to put the Hoyas up 2 but Kris Dunn decided to take over after that. Dunn went down on the subsequent possession and converted on a pretty and-1 to put Providence ahead, 53-52. He would then come down and nail a 3-pointer behind a screen to put the Friars up, 56-52. They never looked back.

Dunn finished with 16 points, 9 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steals. Providence’s lead guard only turned it over twice in 43 minutes of action. He was averaging 4.4 turnovers/game coming in. Henton led all scorers with 19 points, 10 of which came from the free throw line. The unsung hero of the game may have been Tyler Harris. Harris has taken a good amount of heat from the Providence fanbase this season but Cooley trusted him enough in a close game to leave him in with 4 fouls for the final 17+ minutes of action. Harris hit a clutch 3-pointer after making a 2-point jumper under 4 minutes in regulation and he stripped the ball from
Paul White in the final seconds to seal the victory.

Also contributing big in the game was Carson Desrosiers. The 5th year senior finished with 9 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. He did an admirable job on Josh Smith all afternoon.

Leading Georgetown was Smith-Rivera and Smith who both finished with 15 points in the loss.

Providence improves to 3-1 in Big East play and 13-4 overall. The Hoyas drop to 2-2 in league competition and 10-5 overall. Providence will stay home for their next game as St. John’s comes to the Dunkin’ Donuts Center off their second straight 0-3 start to conference play. That game will tip on January 14th at 7pm on Fox Sports 1.