PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Posh Alexander and Julian Champagnie combined for 45 points for St. John’s as Providence fell to the Red Storm 92-81 on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall.
The Friars stormed back from a 17-point deficit in the first half and came within eight at halftime. Providence went on a 15-2 run in the start of the second half and led 56-51 at the 16-minute timeout. However, the Red Storm then went on a 15-1 scoring run of their own with 10:58 remaining which put the Red Storm up nine in the second half and they never looked back.
One of the biggest problems for the Friars was having 12 turnovers, with nine of them occurring in the second half. St. John’s bench also dominated the Friars as their reserves outscored Providence’s bench 32-1. The Friars were outrebounded on the defensive end of the floor 25-18. Providence struggled on the defensive end of the floor by giving up a total of 92 points after only giving up 60 to Seton Hall on Wednesday. “We couldn’t get stops and a lot of the games we are losing is because of our inability to defend. It’s a tale of two games where we haven’t lost many games where we’ve given up 60 points and we haven’t lost a lot of game where we scored 80 plus points.” Providence head coach Ed Cooley told the media after the game, courtesy of Newstalk 99.7 FM WPRO.
The Friars had three players in double digits, starting with Nate Watson scoring a career high 30 points to go along with eight rebounds for the Friars. Noah Horchler scored a career high 19 points while also gathering eight rebounds for Providence. Finally, A.J. Reeves scored 13 points while collecting two rebounds.
St. John’s has won six straight games and will look to go for its seventh straight win when they continue their road trip on Tuesday at Butler with tipoff set for 9pm on Fox Sports 1.
The Friars have now lost three straight games and will look to snap their losing streak when they are back in action Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Hall where they take on the UConn Huskies, with tipoff set for 4pm on Fox Sports 1.