Cooley gets 300th career win as No. 16 Providence rallies past St. John's

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Nate Watson had 22 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 16 Providence rally in the second half and beat St. John’s 83-73 on Saturday.

It was the 300th career victory for Friars coach Ed Cooley. He is now 300-206 in 11 seasons at Providence and five seasons at Fairfield.

The Friars (14-2, 4-1 Big East) have won nine of their last 10. Jared Bynum had 18 points, Justin Minaya finished with 13, and Noah Horchler added eight points and 13 rebounds.

It was just the second game for St. John’s (9-4, 1-1) since it had four games over 18 days postponed after multiple players were placed in COVID-19 protocols.

Dylan Addae-Wusu led the Red Storm with 20 points and Aaron Wheeler finished with 15. But the Red Storm were just 8 of 17 from the free throw line on the day, compared to 26 of 30 for the Friars.

Providence struggled early, playing its second straight game without senior guard A.J. Reeves as he continues to deal with an injured finger on his non-shooting hand.

The absence of Reeves and his ability to shoot from the outside affected what Providence was able to do in the half court for the second straight game. The Friars also struggled to share the ball, tallying only two assists on 11 field goals in the opening 20 minutes.

It allowed St. John’s to key on Watson early and close the first half on a 9-3 run to take a 38-35 lead into halftime.

But things changed in the second half after Watson's primary defender, Joel Soriano, picked up his fourth foul with 19:49 left.

The Red Storm increased their lead to 48-41 early in the second half before Providence outscored them 31-12 over the next 11 minutes to take a 72-60 lead with 4:25 to play.

Watson had 17 in the half.

BIG PICTURE

St. John’s: The Red Storm continue to show few signs of the long layoff, competing for most of the game with the Friars. But they settled for far too many outside shots down the stretch and will need to find ways to stay in games defensively to be a factor in the conference.

Providence: The Friars bounced back nicely after their 32-point drubbing at Marquette. Watson was assertive on the inside in the second half, a great sign for this team heading into the meat of its conference schedule.

UP NEXT

St. John’s: Plays two of its next three on the road, beginning Wednesday at UConn.

Providence: At Creighton on Tuesday.

___

More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25