PC Survives Central Connecticut Upset Bid On Opening Night

Providence College Press Release

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Providence College men’s basketball team defeated the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils, 59-55, in the team’s season opener on Monday, Nov. 4 at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, R.I. Senior Bensley Joseph (Arlington, Mass.) scored a game-high 21 points in his first outing as a Friar. Wesley Cardet Jr. (Tallahassee, Fla.) and Christ Essandoko (Clichy, France) anchored the Providence defense with seven rebounds each. Junior Jayden Pierre (Elizabeth, N.J.) secured the win with four points in the final 90 seconds of the game.

“Central Connecticut was a great opponent,” Head Coach Kim English said. “Credit to the CCSU coaching staff; they’ve done an excellent job. Our guys managed to pull off the win with crucial stops, key rebounds and some big-time shots. Happy we got the victory but we have a lot of work to do.”

FIRST HALF: 

• Oswin Erhunmwunse (Benin City, Nigeria) opened the Friars’ scoring with an emphatic dunk (18:21).

• At the first media timeout (15:55) Providence trailed, 6-4.

• Coming out of the timeout, the Friars took possession and Jabri Abdur-Rahim (South Orange, N.J.) nailed a corner three to give them the team its first lead of the game, 7-6.

• The two teams continued to battle as they exchanged the lead six times within a five-minute span. At the under-12 timeout (11:17), the Friars trailed by one, 12-11.

• With 10:42 on the clock, Cardet Jr. scored his first Friar point, banking a three from the top of the key to reclaim the lead for the Friars, 14-12.

• While the Blue Devils found an eight-point scoring drive, the Friars entered a scoring drought that lasted over four minutes.

• Joseph snapped the team’s five-minute scoreless run with a three. Entering the final media timeout (3:51), the Friars trailed, 20-17.

• CCSU went three minutes without a field goal. With 1:37 left to play in the half,  Essandoko scored a layup in the paint to tie the score at 24. The Blue Devils quickly countered with two points.

• PC trailed 26-24 at half.

• Essandoko contributed five rebounds in the first half.

• Providence shot 8-23 (34.8%) from the field, 3-14 (21.4%) from three, and 5-6 (83.3%) from the free-throw line.

• Central Connecticut shot 10-28 (35.7%) from the field, 0-4 (0.0%) from three, and 6-10 (60.0%) from the free-throw line.

SECOND HALF: 

• At the first media timeout of the second half (14:44), the Friars were down by five, 34-29.

• Joseph scored seven points over a four-minute stretch. With 12:18 remaining, he made a layup that cut the Friars’ deficit to two and forced a Blue Devil timeout, 38-36.

• With 11:19 remaining, Erhunwumnse threw a dunk, to tie the score at 38 and extend the Friars’ scoring run to seven.

• The two teams continued to battle. With 6:16 left in the game, Essandoko delivered a powerful dunk that gave the Friars their first lead since the first half.

• CCSU regained a narrow lead and at the final timeout (3:37), the Friars trailed by one, 50-49.

• Central Connecticut pushed its lead to three, but in the final minutes, Joseph responded with a personal 6-0 run, hitting two three-pointers to put the Friars ahead by two, 55-53, with 1:49 remaining.

• The Blue Devils tied the score at 55 with 1:11 left in regulation.

• Jayden Pierre (Elizabeth, N.J.) flushed two free-throws to put give the Friars a two-point lead with 1:10 on the clock, 57-55.

• Pierre was awarded two more free-throws with 18 seconds remaining, converting both. Friars finished on top, 59-55.

• The Blue Devils failed to score a field goal in the final 3:53 of the game.

• PC only held the lead for 5:04 minutes on the night.

HIGHLIGHTS: 

• Providence finished 20-53 (37.7%) from the field, 8-32 (25.0%) from three and 11-15 (73.3%) from the free throw line.

• Central Connecticut finished 17-54 (31.5%) from the field, 0-8 (0.0%) from three and 21-26 (80.8%) from the free throw line.

• PC outrebounded CCSU, 43-33.

• The Friars outscored the Blue Devils in bench points (13-11), points in the paint (24-22) and second-chance points (15-5).

• With 21 points, Joseph was the only Friar to enter double-digit scoring.

• There were 11 lead changes in the game.

• Oswin Erhunmwunse was the first freshman to start in a season opener for the Friars since David Duke Jr. And AJ Reeves in the 2018-19 season.

• Joseph scored a game-high five threes.

• Six players made their debut with the Friars\ — Essandoko, Joseph, Cardet Jr., Erhunmwunse, Abdur-Rahim and Justyn Fernadez (Richmond, Va.) all logged their first minutes for Providence.

 NOTES 

• Attendance: 9,806

• The Friars are now 8-2 all-time against the Blue Devils.

• The Friars opened their 98th season of basketball tonight.

• The Friars have posted an 87-11 (.888) mark all-time in regular-season openers.

• The Friars hold a 90-8 (.918) record in home openers.

• This marked the Friars’ first season opener ever against Central Connecticut.

 UP NEXT  

The Friars will host Stonehill College (1-0) on Saturday, November 9 at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on FS2.

The Friars have posted a 5-0 mark all-time versus the Skyhawks, all of which were played at home. The last time the two teams met, the Friars earned a 100-76 win at the Amica Mutual Pavilion on November 15, 2022.