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Providence tops No. 24 Georgetown

Feb 5, 2015 - 5:48 AM Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - Ben Bentil finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds as Providence defeated No. 24 Georgetown 74-71 in a back-and- forth affair at Verizon Center.

LaDontae Henton also netted 16 points along with six rebounds, Carson Desrosiers had 14 points and Kris Dunn scored 12 with nine assists and six steals for the Friars (17-6, 7-3 Big East), who have won four of their last five games.

"In this league, every game is coming down to a free throw here, a dead ball here, a call here," Providence head coach Ed Cooley said. "It was just really a good team win for us."

D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera paced the Hoyas (15-7, 7-4) with a game-high 21 points and Joshua Smith, Isaac Copeland and Tre Campbell each contributed 10 points in defeat.

"We just weren't moving enough," said Smith-Rivera. "The ball was sticking and we were stagnant and just looking for one option instead of looking for the next thing and keeping them on the move."

Providence also defeated Georgetown 60-57 in overtime on Jan. 10.

Trailing 56-44 with 12:09 remaining, the Friars erased their deficit when Desrosiers followed Bentil's layup with a jumper to get them within a point, then gave Providence a 66-65 lead on a layup with 4:41 to go.

After Jabril Trawick tied the game by splitting a pair of free throws, Desrosiers made both of his shots from the line. Each team was unsuccessful on its next two possessions, but Trawick was fouled hard en route to the basket by Desrosiers, who was called for a dead ball technical with 1:51 left.

Trawick again split his pair of free throws, but Smith-Rivera made both of his to give the Hoyas a 69-68 edge.

The two teams each netted a pair of free throws before Desrosiers made two from the line with 32 seconds left for a 72-71 Providence lead.

Dunn got a hand on Georgetown's inbounds pass with nine seconds to play, and Bentil gathered the ball and made two free throws to seal the win.

Trawick and Smith-Rivera each made 3-pointers as the Hoyas jumped out to an 8-2 lead, but the Friars stormed back and Dunn's trey tied the game at 14-14 less than eight minutes into the game.

After Georgetown used a 12-3 run to climb back in front, Providence once again responded. Bentil scored four points during a 9-0 surge that gave Providence a 35-34 edge with under two minutes to play in the half.

Smith-Rivera's right-wing triple in the waning seconds gave the Hoyas a narrow 41-38 edge at halftime.

Early in the second half, Desrosiers and Dunn each layups around a pair of Bentil free throws to give the Friars a brief 44-43 edge.

Georgetown, however, responded with a 13-0 run that was concluded on L.J. Peak's 3-point play for a 56-44 lead.

Game Notes

Providence won a road game against a ranked opponent for the first time since beating UConn on Jan. 24, 2004 ... The Friars swept Georgetown for the first time since 1994 ... Providence shot 53.5 percent from the floor compared to Georgetown's 42.6 percent.