Providence Survives The Bulldogs

 

By Andrew Rosario 

 

It was a short turnaround for the #9 Butler Bulldogs when they faced the #1 seed Providence Friars in the second round of the Big East tournament. Butler was gift wrapped their opening night win against the Xavier Musketeers in their 89-82 overtime win as down the stretch the X-Men committed a costly foul as well as missing 16 free throws. The Bulldogs were hoping for a repeat performance by Simas Lukosius who scored 12 (the first 10) of the team’s 21 overtime points. Providence (24-4 overall and 14-3 in the conference) won its first regular season championship after taking out Creighton last Saturday.

 

Providence did not play up to their ranking to start as they missed field goals while Butler did not do any better. The Friars jumped out to 9-3 lead only to see Butler outscore Providence 11-4 to take the lead at 14-13 after Bulldogs guard Chuck Harris basket and foul. Harris then hits a long range 3 punting them up 20-16 with 8:48 left in the first half. Down 24-18, the Friars would come back to take the lead 27-25 when forward Justin Minaya drained a corner 3. Providence’s Nate Watson slam put them up by 2 (31-29) and Harris would tie the score hitting a jumper as the shot clock went off to end the first half in a 31-31 tie. 

 

 

 

 

It was clear that Providence was not going to let Lukosius have a big half. They held him to 2 points on 1-6 shooting as he missed all of his 3-point attempts (0-4). Friars center Nate Watson led all scorers with 15 points. Harris finished the half with 12. 

 

Both teams picked up the pace to begin the second half but neither team led by more than 5 with Butler going up 49-44 with under 12 minutes to go. Lukosius, who did not start the game, started the second half adding two sweet assists. Butler’s forward Bryce Golden put them up by 6 (51-45) after a lay-up. Not to be deterred, Friars forward Noah Horchler drains a 3 to get them within 51-48 with 8:58 left as the pro Madison Square Garden sold out crowd looked to spur on Providence. 

 

Tied at 55 with 3:42, the Friars looked to complete the season sweep as Butler looked to upset the #1 seed and regular season champions. 

 

Lukosius puts them up by 2 after hitting two free throws. Watson makes 1 of 2 free throws before Harris aids in an assist putting them up 59-56. After missing two free throws, Watson makes up for it by getting an offensive rebound, converting the basket. Missing his third straight free throw, Butler takes possession with 1:11 left in regulation.

 

Friars guard Aljami Durham had only scored 2 point up to that point. With .43 seconds left, he nails a 3-pointer from the left corner giving them a  61-59 lead. Jared Bynum added 2 free throws (63-59) and the next two possessions, the Providence defense stepped up with two big blocks. A Durham breakaway dunk iced the game (65-61) with the #1 seed moving on to the semi-finals. 

 

Watson finished with a game high 26 points with Jared Bynum coming off the bench to score 16. Butler was led by Chuck Harris 16 points and Bo Hodges contributed 14. 

 

Providence will await the winner of Creighton and Marquette which will take place Friday night starting at 6:30pm.