Day 3 of the Big East Tournament Featured Game #4 Providence vs. #8 Seton Hall

by James Finneral

After a shocking victory over the number one seeded Villanova and an intense victory over St. Johns the Pirates of Seton Hall met the Providence College Friars in the Big East semi final game. Providence came into the game hoping a victory would help lock their chances of being selected for the NCAA Tournament. Seton Hall on the other hand pretty much needs to win the Big East Tournament and get an automatic bid, or else they will not make it. The Friars were the aggressors in the early going with many strong takes to the bucket leading to easy baskets and free throws. It really was LaDontae Henton's game. The junior has been productive all year long as the second leading scorer and rebounder on the club. In this game he broke out as no one could stop him going to the hole and his shots were falling from both mid range and three point land. Henton and the Friars went into the half up 38-34.

  After the break Henton continued playing well with a couple of three point jumpers assisted by Bryce Cotton. He was also able to take Seton Hall's focus off of Cotton who then started to get on track. Cotton finished with 18 points and 10 assists. Fuquan Edwin and Sterling Gibbs played well for the Pirates scoring and locking down Josh Fortune on defense. Edwin finished with 20 points and Gibbs had 13 and 6 assists. Seton Hall's last attempts to come back were too late and the Friars put on another great performance form the charity stripe and went on to win 80-74                   LaDontae Henton driving



Tyler Harris of Providence played another nice game for the Friars with 17 points and 4 rebounds. They advance to take on Creighton and Doug McDermott in the championship game. They have split the season series and the winner receives an automatic bid to the big dance.