PROVIDENCE, R.I. _ For one half, the rabid Providence College fans who flocked to the Dunkin' Donuts Center Wednesday night saw a healthy glimpse of the offensive talents of the No. 12 Creighton Bluejays.
That team didn't show up in the second, however, as a superb defensive effort led the Providence Friars to a convincing 73-56 win, which makes the Friars 2-3 over a brutal five straight stretch against top-25 foes.
A.J. Reeves caught fire in the second half and finished with a season-best 22 points. Alpha Diallo added 14, David Duke had 12 and Nate Watson 11 for a Providence (13-10) team that is now firmly in the thick of the Big East race with a 6-4 record.
Creighton falls to 17-6 overall and 6-4 in the conference. Ty-Shon Alexander led the Jays with 15 points but one of the league's best offenses struggled to 30% shooting in the second half.
The Friars opened the game with sharper offense but struggled keeping the Jays under wraps the entire first half and were fortunate to trail by just 36-32 at the half. Creighton enjoyed an early 11-0 run that secured the lead and only a late eight-point flurry by Diallo pushed the Friars back into the game.
Creighton shot better than 50% most of the half but 4-of-13 shooting from the 3-point line bumped the rate to 44% by halftime. Ballock scored nine in a row all by himself early in the half and had 12 points at the break.
Diallo's eight led Providence in the half, while Maliek White and Watson added seven.
The Friars saw Reeves bang in two 3-pointers early in the second half to cut the deficit to 39-37 but Creighton's finely-tuned offense kept running sharply for a 45-39 lead. That's when the Friars put together their best stretch of the game as Reeves knocked in two treys, Diallo added another and when Reeves banged home a jumper off an inbounds play, the Friars had grabbed control, 50-45.
Creighton came back to cut PC's lead to 52-50 on an Alexander 3-pointer but those shots were few and far between. PC responded with an 8-0 run to push the lead out to 60-50 with 7:09 left. A David Duke 3-pointer at the shot clock helped push the lead to 64-52 with 4:42 to play.
At that point the Jays were 2 of 12 from the 3-point line in the half. Needing a push from downtown, Alexander hit a trey but PC's Duke answered with one of his own to extend the lead to 67-54 just inside the two minute mark.
