MILWAUKEE — This time, Providence wasn't going to let Markus Howard win the game.
This time, as Howard corralled a missed free throw and turned upcourt, the ball and the game in his hands, Kyron Cartwright and Jalen Lindsey knew what they had to do.
"We knew where the ball was going," Lindsey said. "We knew Howard was going to get the ball."
"I saw Jalen right behind him, and we kind of made eye contact: We're going to trap," said Cartwright. "If somebody makes the shot and we lose the game, it's not going to be him again. That was just a senior moment."
The pair of seniors combined to poke the ball out of Howard's hands, sealing Providence's satisfying and critical 77-75 win at the Bradley Center. The Friars were able to stave off another furious late rally to earn their best road win of the season.
"We learned from the last time we played them," head coach Ed Cooley said. "If we didn't learn from that, then I'm a bad coach."
It was that kind of senior experience that stood out for Providence Saturday. The game-sealing trap — "just one of those things that we read," Lindsey said — derived from something Cooley said 90 seconds earlier in a timeout. He wanted his Friars to corral the ball in the backcourt — to forecheck, as it were, to prevent Marquette from getting out in transition late.
"It was really good recognition by Jalen," Cooley said. "I'm glad he's a senior and actually listens."
"They've got guys that have been through this a lot; we've got guys going through it initially," Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "Providence is very good and very old, and they've been hardened by four years of experience."
We'll roll out the ball and let these two teams run it back in perpetuity, because it always comes down to the final minute. This is the seventh time in the last nine meetings between the Friars and Golden Eagles that the game was decided by five or less.
Prior to the end, this contest featured plenty of similarities with the last one — when Marquette overcame a six-point deficit in the final 90 seconds to pull out an overtime win behind Howard's 52 points. As in that one, the home team led 38-37 at the half. As in that one, Providence built a lead, albeit not quite a comfortable one, with a second-half run.
A 9-0 spurt that coincided with Marquette senior guard Andrew Rowsey's trip to the bench with four fouls gave Providence the lead for good midway through the second half. Deprived of their point guard, the Golden Eagles went more than eight minutes without a field goal.
Providence's 9-0 run came largely with its small lineup on the court, starring Rodney Bullock at the five. That opened up space in the lane for drivers and cutters, and Cartwright and Alpha Diallo, in particular, took advantage. PC's wings are also unusually comfortable operating in the post, as Diallo showed in picking up Rowsey's fifth foul with 6:27 to play.
"It's a mismatch on the floor somewhere," said Lindsey, who scored all 11 of his points in the first half. "You’ve got a bunch of different guys that can take those big guys off the dribble. It's a very versatile lineup, and it helps us big-time."
"We try to go position-less when we can," Cooley said. "You're seeing the game changing in front of our eyes. That gives us a lot of versatility."
It was a balanced effort from Providence in the box score, with five different Friars scoring in double figures. Diallo led the way with 16.
Five weeks from Selection Sunday, winning this bubble battle figures to loom large. Providence and Marquette entered the day with similar résumés; Saturday's win ensured that the Golden Eagles didn't own a season sweep over the Friars — the exact kind of distinction that matters in constructing the bracket.
The victory keeps Providence firmly ahead of Marquette in the at-large hierarchy. PC managed to avenge that heartbreaking home loss in January and to salvage the final game of a difficult three-game road swing. With the next three at home, capped off by a massive opportunity against No. 1 Villanova, the Friars have positioned themselves well to push for a fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament.
"It's a good win for us. We didn't melt," Cooley said. "It was a great Big East game. It really was."