Hopkins leads No. 20 Providence past Georgetown, 74-62

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Devin Carter throws it up to Bryce Hopkins for an electric Providence slam

Providence takes care of business on the defensive end and turns it into a Bryce Hopkins slam vs. Georgetown.

Feb 9, 2023, 04:28 am

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- — Bryce Hopkins scored 17 points and No. 20 Providence beat Georgetown 74-62 on Wednesday night.

Devin Carter and Ed Croswell had 12 points apiece as the Friars (18-6, 10-3 Big East) won for the fourth time in five games. Noah Locke added 11 points, shooting 3 of 5 from 3-point range.

Bradley Ezewiro paced last-place Georgetown (6-19, 1-13) with 19 points and Primo Spears added 18. Brandon Murray scored 16 as the Hoyas dropped their fourth straight.

“That’s a very hard team to play against,” Providence coach Ed Cooley said. “Winning is very hard, but I think our players continue to get better. I was very proud of our effort.”

Providence threatened to pull away several times. Locke hit a 3 to make it 54-37, but the Hoyas were within 58-51 with eight minutes left. Another surge by the Friars featuring 3s from Locke and Hopkins helped them maintain a double-digit lead down the stretch.

“In our timeouts we talked about staying confident … wanting to get three stops in a row,” Carter said. “We all bought into playing defense towards the end of the game and it definitely helped us stop Georgetown from going on a run.”

The Hoyas had Providence on the run early, jumping out to a 16-14 lead that was sparked by Spears, their leading scorer. But the Friars ripped off a 16-1 spurt highlighted by a pair of strong takes from Hopkins.

Jayden Pierre made a 3-pointer that gave Providence 30-17 cushion. Murray trimmed it to 34-27 with a 3, but the Friars took a 39-30 advantage into halftime.

Providence outrebounded Georgetown 38-33 and outscored the Hoyas 38-32 in the paint. The Friars came in allowing Big East opponents to shoot only 28% on 3-pointers and limited Georgetown to 3 of 15 from beyond the arc.

“They’re probably one of the most physical teams we have in our conference,” Hoyas coach Patrick Ewing said. “Ed has done an outstanding job of getting them to buy in to the way that he wants to play. They have some older guys who have been around and they play together.”

RECOGNITION

Back at the school where he served as athletic director for 20 years, Bob Driscoll was presented with the Big East’s John Thompson Jr. Award during a timeout in the first half. Also on hand was Tiffany Thompson, daughter of the former Georgetown coach who died in 2020.

BIG PICTURE

Georgetown: On their way to a losing record in Big East play for the fourth consecutive season, the Hoyas are 74-103 since Ewing became coach of his alma mater in 2017.

Providence: The Friars have double-digit Big East wins for the third time in four seasons. The defending regular-season conference champions are tied with No. 23 Creighton for third place in the league standings, a half-game behind No. 10 Marquette and one game back of No. 13 Xavier.

UP NEXT

Georgetown: Will host Marquette on Saturday.

Providence: A visit to Madison Square Garden to face St. John’s on Saturday.

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