Providence takes down Xavier to split season series

The trio of Jaylin Sellers, Jason Edwards and Jamier Jones accounted for 70 points, leading Providence to a 94-84 win over visiting Xavier in Big East action on Wednesday night.

Sellers led the Friars (13-15, 6-11 Big East) with 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting while Edwards had 24. Both sank four 3-pointers.

Jones added 19 points and seven rebounds, while Oswin Erhunmwunse contributed a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.

Both teams shot above 50 percent from the field, including Providence at 54.1, but Xavier (13-15, 5-12) was just 5-for-22 from 3-point range in its eighth straight conference road loss.

Reserve Roddie Anderson III led the Musketeers' four double-figure scorers with 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting. Jovan Milicevic scored three 3-pointers on a 17-point night.

Providence played without star freshman Stefan Vaaks (illness).

Xavier led 6-5 following an early back-and-forth segment, but Providence quickly broke the game open for a 15-6 advantage in less than five minutes. Sellers and Edwards bookended a 10-0 Friar run with 3-pointers.

After a Carroll jumper and Borovicanin trey brought the Musketeers within four, the Friars rattled off a 13-1 run and took a 16-point lead with 10:07 left in the first half. Pinnis made a second-chance layup and Edwards stepped to his right for a three to finish the streak.

Though All Wright's jumper stopped the Xavier drought, Mela and Sellers responded with back-to-back buckets to spark another Providence spurt of 11-2 in response. Edwards canned another three at the end.

Anderson laid in Tre Carroll's home run pass during an 8-0 Xavier run before a personal 5-0 run, all within the final 4:00 of the first half. An Edwards jumper cemented a 47-34 lead at intermission.

Erhunmwunse's dunk capped a 5-0 Providence run in the first 1:07 out of halftime, extending its lead to 18.

Anderson continued his run off the bench with two quick buckets before the teams opened up a back-and-forth stretch. Milicevic sank a pair of triples during that stretch as Xavier closed within 11 at the 13:44 mark.

Jones slammed down two of his four second-half dunks during a 7-2 Friar surge to up the lead to 17 with 11:14 to play. Erhunmwunse also got in on the action halfway through the period.

Xavier did not go away though, authoring an 8-2 run to trim its deficit to eight on an Anderson transition three with 8:05 to play. The Musketeers got within seven with 5:57 left.

Sellers knocked down triples at both ends of a 10-1 run that helped Providence put the game out of reach. He scored 10 of the Friars' final 14 points.

--Field Level Media