Nate Watson scored 22 points and Jared Bynum added 18, including the game-winning foul shots in overtime, as No. 8 Providence rallied from a 19-point second-half deficit to defeat host Butler 71-70 in a Big East game in Indianapolis on Sunday.
Bynum’s two free throws with 38 seconds to go closed the scoring. He missed two free throws 11 seconds later, but Jayden Taylor back-rimmed a 3-point attempt for Butler (13-15, 6-11) with 10 seconds left.
Noah Horchler got the rebound for Providence (22-3, 12-2), and the Friars played keepaway until time expired.
Horchler had 15 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Chuck Harris scored 17 points and Aaron Thompson 16 for Butler, which never trailed until overtime. Bo Hodges added 13 points and Bryce Nze 11 for the Bulldogs.
The lead changed hands five times in the extra session. Bynum’s two free throws with 38 seconds left put the Friars ahead 71-70, and Justin Minaya then stole the ball from Harris and passed to Bynum. However, after being fouled, Bynum missed both free throws, and Butler had one final shot but missed.
After Bryce Golden’s long 2-point jumper put Butler ahead 61-54 with 3:03 left in regulation, A.J. Reeves hit back-to-back contested threes to bring the Friars within one point. Harris hit two foul shots to give Butler a 63-60 lead with 1:11 to go, but Bynum’s driving layup seven seconds later made it 63-62.
Harris split a pair of foul shots with 38 seconds left, and Horchler sent the game into overtime with a jumper that tied the score at 64 with 23 seconds to go, and then by blocking Thompson’s layup attempt.
Earlier in the second half, the Friars steadily sliced into the Bulldogs’ lead, which reached 43-24 with 17:16 left. Minaya’s 3-pointer with 11 minutes to go in the half cut the lead to single digits (47-39) for the first time since the opening half.
Butler got its lead back up to 52-41 on Thompson’s jumper in the lane, but the Friars answered with a 13-4 run and cut their deficit to 56-54 on Watson’s dunk off a pass from Bynum with 4:20 left.
For most of the first half, the Friars looked nothing — at least on offense — like the team that had scored 84 points against perennial conference standard-bearer Villanova five days earlier. The Friars missed 18 of their first 21 shots from the floor as the Bulldogs opened a 23-8 lead on Thompson’s turnaround jumper with 6:05 to go in the half.
Perhaps in desperation, Providence coach Ed Cooley inserted Andrew Fonts, a reserve who had logged only 16 minutes all season. Fonts responded with a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left, cutting the deficit to 33-20 at the break.
Providence’s Al Durham, who averages 13.4 points and 3.2 assists per game, has been playing through assorted leg injuries and sat out the game.
–Field Level Media
