Ryan Mela (23 points/9 rebounds/ 5 assists) helped spark the Friars to a BET win
By KEVIN McNAMARA
NEW YORK – For the better part of two seasons, Kim English had urged Ryan Mela to play more aggressively on offense. He did much the same the last week or so with freshman shooter Stefan Vaaks.
No problem, Coach.
With both players shooting early and often, plus Jaylin Sellers taking his usual star turn, English’s run with the Friars will continue into the Big East quarterfinals. Providence punched its ticket to a Noon date with St. John’s Thursday after a convincing 91-81 win over the Butler Bulldogs.
Vaaks, finally feeling strong after a bout with the flu, knocked down shots from 33rd Street on his way to tying the Big East Tournament record with eight 3-pointers and a game-high 28 points. Mela scored 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and added 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Sellers, still smarting from not being chosen to the 1st All-Big East team, threw in 23 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.
The Friars’ 14 three-pointers set a program record for the Big East tourney and this was the first time three PC players have each scored 20 or more points in a tourney game.
“Kim’s been telling me to shoot for two years, started to finally listen to him,” Mela said. “They give me a lot of confidence to shoot the ball. It’s part of our offense. They want us to take the open threes. So the coaching staff gives me a lot of confidence.”
It took the Friars plenty of time to show up for this opener of the Big East tourney. Butler scored 15 of the game’s first 17 points as PC made just one of its first nine shots. But many of those shots were open, or at the rim. On the flip side, Butler’s Michael Ajayi (21 pts, 11 rebs) was powering his way to the rim with ease.
“Rough start, but felt like our shot quality was good to start the game except for about four or five minutes. We were getting some good looks. We just had to get our defense to be better,” English said. “I think 14 of the first 16 points were right at the rim. Once that defense got better, we know that they’re a high-possession team, we’re a high-possession team, so a 16-point deficit’s not the end of the world. Our guys showed great resolve, great togetherness, great fight to find a way to win and to live another day.”
PC trailed by as much as 27-11 with 9:55 to play in the first half before it began digging itself out of that hole. The key was certainly the 3-point shot as Vaaks knocked in a couple threes and in a snap the Friars were trailing by just 31-27. The Friars tied the score at 38-38 and trailed 42-40 at the half.
The key stretch of the game came after Butler sat on a 50-45 lead. Providence caught fire with Vaaks and Sellers making treys and then Mela and Sellers scoring going to the rim. That rush gave the Friars a 61-52 lead and control of the game.
“I think Providence is one of the most talented teams I’ve seen, and I was hoping they didn’t get going,” said Butler coach Thadd Matta. “We knew they were going to make a run. We have seen that all year long.”
Butler made a push to cut PC’s lead to 77-75 but Sellers hit a tough jumper, Vaaks made a deep 3-pointer and Mela rebounded a Sellers miss for a hoop and the Friars (84-76) were out of the woods.
“I mean, Kim’s just been telling me to shoot the ball,” said Vaaks. “If you really look at the sideline, whenever I wouldn’t shoot the open shot, he would go crazy. But, yeah, it felt good to be, like, really back in the rhythm.”
Now 15-17, the Friars will own little trepidation when they face the top-seeded Red Storm. PC beat St. John’s at Madison Square Garden in January and Rick Pitino’s team responded by winning 13 straight games and 16-of-17 contests. Included was a 79-69 win at the Amica Mutual Pavilion that was marred by a hard, Flagrant foul by PC’s Duncan Powell to the head of the Storm’s Bryce Hopkins. The foul was the talk of the Big East, and college basketball, for several days as Powell was suspended for three games.
Asked about the rematch with St. John’s, English said his team has “no beef” with the Storm and felt the media blew the play out of proportion.
“I think it was all, truthfully, blown out of proportion, to tell you the truth,” English said. “Again, it was a hard foul, a couple guys got in each other’s face, there was some pushes. I mean, I think it got completely blown out of proportion. But that’s college basketball, click bait, fodder, BS right now. I don’t think it was that bad.”
PC’s Sellers was asked about not being voted to the All-Big East First team and if you think he’s playing with a little extra motivation this week at MSG you are correct.
“They didn’t choose me. Does that fuel me? Yes. I felt like I should’ve been on there,” he said. “But I don’t want to talk, I want to show it. I want to show that I’m the best player in the league, like I wanted to do all year.”
St. John’s big man Zuby Ejiofor was the Big East’s Player of the Year and also won the conference’s Defensive and Scholar-Athlete awards.
