Josh Oduro scored a game-high 29 points and Bryce Hopkins finished with 25 to help Providence College improve its record to 5-1 with a 78-64 victory over visiting Lehigh on Friday night.
Oduro made 13 of his 18 field goal attempts. Hopkins, who had a game-high 14 rebounds, shot 10 of 16 from the field and scored Providence’s first nine points in the second half.
Devin Carter had 10 points and was the only other Providence player who scored in double figures.
The Friars did much of their damage inside, as they outscored the Mountain Hawks 52-28 in the paint.
Dominic Parolin tossed in a team-high 18 points for Lehigh (1-5), which failed to get closer than nine points in the second half. The Mountain Hawks received 16 points and eight rebounds from Keith Higgins Jr., and 10 points from Jalin Sinclair.
Providence point guard Jayden Pierre took part in pregame warmups, but missed his second straight game with a hamstring injury. Pierre averaged 10.3 points per game and 22.5 minutes per game in the Friars’ first four contests.
Lehigh had a 13-12 lead after Higgins connected on a 3-pointer with 12:29 remaining in the first half, but Providence responded with a 15-2 run and had a 27-15 lead after a Garwey Dual 3-pointer with 7:38 left in the half.
Providence had its largest lead of the half, 41-27, when Carter made a 3-pointer with 45 seconds remaining before the break. The Friars outscored the Mountain Hawks 26-10 in the paint through the first 20 minutes and led 41-29 at halftime.
Lehigh trailed 58-48 midway through the second half, but the Friars scored nine of the next 10 points and had a 67-49 lead following an Oduro layup with 8:23 to play. Another Oduro layup at the 6:00 minute mark gave Providence a 19-point advantage, its largest lead of the game.
–Field Level Media