Canes Stumble Against Providence
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Ryan Gomes had 20 points and 10 rebounds asProvidence beat Miami 73-63 Tuesday night in a game between teams looking tostay out of the Big East’s East Division basement.
Sheiku Kabba scored 18 points and Rob Sanders had 17 for the Friars (12-11,5-7). It was the Friars’ first consecutive wins since Dec. 30 and Jan. 2.
Darius Rice led Miami with 16 points, while Armondo Surratt had 12 and JamesJones 11.
The Hurricanes (10-12, 3-8) are 0-6 in conference games and fell into lastplace in their division, one-half game behind Virginia Tech. The last-placeteams from each division don’t make it to the league tournament in New Yorknext month.
The game was originally scheduled for Monday, but was postponed due to themajor snowstorm that hit the Northeast.
Miami closed to 54-52 on Surratt’s layup with just over 10 minutes left, butProvidence scored nine of the next 13 points to open a 63-56 lead.
After Miami made one last charge to make it 63-60, Sanders had a dunk andtwo free throws to help Providence regain control.
Miami never got closer than six points over the final 1:30.
Providence opened the second half with an 8-2 run to go up 45-39.
The Hurricanes then regained the lead 47-45 on Robert Hite’s 3-pointerbefore the Friars scored nine of the next 11 points. Gomes had two and Kabbahit a 3-pointer in the run.
