Dick Weiss on NCAA Tournament

NEW YORK, N.Y.—Providence College can play the role of gritty underdog as well as any team in this Big East tournament.

This isn’t your father’s Friars, with the late Dave Gavitt, Marvin Barnes and Ernie DiGregorio, who were the king of New England basketball in the 1970. But Providence has always found a way to make life uncomfortable for the rest of this newly configured 10 team basketball only league in March.

Providence won the first new Big East tournament in 2014 when it defeated Creighton, 65-58. Now, after stunning third ranked, regular season champion Xavier, 75-72, in overtime during the Big East semi-finals, the senior-dominated Friars (21-12) are on a crusade to recreate Garden magic here Saturday night against second-ranked Villanova.

Cue the electricity.

“What a game, what an atmosphere, what a league,’’ Providence coach Ed Cooley said. “We didn’t come out playing the way we wanted to. But I was proud of these young kids in the second half.

“We know we’re playing against arguably the best team in the country, a team that’s been playing really, really well, has great seniors, really well coached. But our guys really stepped up to the challenge. I didn’t think we had any rhythm in the first half. Offensively, defensively, we had a lot of breakdowns. But I kept telling players there’s a lot of game left.

“We just happened to have the ball last and made a couple of open shots. The game could have gone either way. We’re fortunate to move on.’’

This was Providence’s second straight comeback victory. The fifth seeded Friars were down four at half against fourth seeded Creighton in the first round before rallying for a 72-68 quarterfinal victory Thursday afternoon.

This was Providence’s biggest win since 1997 when the Friars upset Duke in the second round of the NCAA tournament on their journey to an Elite Eight appearance.

Sophomore forward Alpha Diallo and senior guard Rodney Bullock each scored 17 points for the Friars, but it was senior point guard Kyron Cartwright—who shot had just one field goal in the first half when he all but disappeared— came to life and made all the big plays at the end of regulation and overtime.

Cartwright, who finished with 15 points and six assists and made a pair of critical free throws with 12 seconds to play in regulation to tie the game at 68-68 and force overtime. Then, he made a jumper to send the Friars up, 73-70, with 57 seconds left. Finally, he drew a charge on Xavier guard J.P. Macura, who was determined to go length of the floor for a potential game winning driving layup with the Friars clinging to a 73-72 lead and only six seconds to play and Diallo ended the drama with a pair of free throws after being fouled on the inbounds pass.

“I’m speechless,’’ Cartwright said. “I don’t know what happened out there.’’

Then he gathered himself when asked about the charge. “When I saw Macura running on the side, so I jabbed at him at first and kind of backed off just to try to make him think a little bit to make a decision,’’ Cartwright recalled. “And I saw when he was ready to leave his feet I was in a position to take a charge and that’s something I do often. Just trying to help the team.’’

This should help Providence with seeding. What happened to Xavier will cause earthquake tremors at the NCAA selection committee meeting and could even push the Musketeers (28-5) off the 1 seed line.

The Musketeers had this game under control, racing to a 52-35 lead with 15:20 to play. But their shooting betrayed them. Xavier shot just 8-for-27 in the second half and 1-for-6 in the overtime. Senior All Big East guard Trevon Bluiett was 2-for-14 and scored only 11 points. Macura, the team’s second most dangerous scorer, finished with just nine.

“It feels like a game that shoulda, coulda, woulda,’’ Xavier coach Chris Mack said. “They hung in there and didn’t deliver the knockout punch. It’s disappointing because I feel we had the game. We’ve been awfully good in close games, but tonight we left a few plays out there.’’

And Providence was more than happy to scoop them up.

“I hope our team is born with swag,’’ Cooley said. “Not so much just winning games but winning the game of life. You gotta walk through life like you own it,  but be humble and always be selfless. That’s what we teach our players. But swag, we’re built for that, built for the moment. That’s is reall’’