Providence’s Jayden Pierre had 18 points and the Friars rode a second-half surge to get past visiting Green Bay 79-65 Saturday night.
The Friars (4-0) have won 30 of their last 31 nonconference home games. Corey Floyd Jr. added 12 points for Providence.
The Friars led in offensive rebounds 15-6, and they stymied the Phoenix’s leading scorer, Anthony Roy, in the second half. Roy had 15 before intermission but ended with 17, 11 below his season average. Marcus Hall led Green Bay with 19 points.
Roy was the story early, with 13 of his team’s first 14 points, including three 3-pointers. The Friars went ahead 35-25 — their biggest lead of the first half — after a trey by Rich Barron, but then scored just one point in the last 3 1/2 minutes.
Green Bay (1-3) went into halftime with the momentum, however, after Hall knocked away a Providence pass in the backcourt just before the buzzer and laid it in for a 36-36 tie.
Hall then came out firing for the Phoenix, making three 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the second half to lift Green Bay to a 47-41 lead.
The Phoenix lead reached 50-43 when Providence began to recover. Ryan Mela spun in the lane and hit a jumper, Pierre sank a trey and Floyd dunked to begin a game-changing 12-0 run.
After Green Bay clawed back to within 62-58, Providence went on a 7-0 burst, with Oswin Erhunmwunse scoring from close in, Wesley Cardet Jr. driving for a layup and Bensley Joseph also hitting a layup to make it 69-58.
Providence struggled at the free-throw line, making just 16-28 (57.1 percent). But they had only five turnovers.
Providence played without star forward Bryce Hopkins, who is recovering from the torn ACL he sustained in January.
–Field Level Media
