Ed Croswell came off the bench to hit all seven of his shots as he scored 15 points and blocked three shots to lead No. 21 Providence to an 83-75 Big East victory over visiting Georgetown on Thursday night.
Coming off an 11-day layoff, Providence (15-2, 5-1) got off to a brilliant start, scoring the game’s first 13 points, and led all the way in winning for the 10th time in its last 11 games.
The win was the 209th for coach Ed Cooley, tying him with Dave Gavitt for second-most in Providence history.
Noah Horchler hit two 3-pointers in the final 2:39 and finished with 14 points as the Friars held off the Hoyas’ charge. Al Durham scored all 15 of his points in the second half.
Nate Watson contributed 10 points and Jared Bynum added nine points and eight assists off the Friars’ bench. Justin Minaya added nine points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Georgetown (6-9, 0-4) lost its fifth straight despite the play of Donald Carey, who made five 3-pointers, scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds. It was the first game for Carey since Dec. 18. After a 19-day COVID pause, Carey missed the Hoyas’ previous three games with an illness.
Kaiden Rice also made five 3-pointers on his way to 19 points. The Hoyas hit 13 of 23 shots from beyond the arc (56.5 percent) but made just 40 percent of their shots overall.
Aminu Mohammed added 12 points and six rebounds for Georgetown.
The Hoyas trailed by 16 points with less than 12 minutes left but clicked off seven straight points, including five from Carey to slice the deficit to 58-49. A 3-pointer by Mohammed with 2:59 left made it 69-65, but that’s when Horchler answered with his two treys.
While Providence was the team coming off a pause, Georgetown was the one that looked rusty in the opening minutes as it missed its first 10 shots and committed four turnovers. Croswell scored three baskets as the Friars assumed a 13-0 lead.
But 6:46 into the game, Carey got the Hoyas on the scoreboard with a 3-pointer, opening a perimeter assault by the visitors. Georgetown scored the final six points of the half, with three coming on a buzzer-beating bomb by Tyler Beard that cut the deficit to 37-34.
–Field Level Media
