First Round Recap – St. Louis Region
No. 12 Pacific 66, No. 5 Providence 58
Despite his best efforts, Ryan Gomes was unable to overcome the Pacific Tigers by himself. The twelfth-seeded Tigers took down fifth-ranked Providence for the first upset of Friday evening with a 66-58 victory, as Pacific led for the majority of the game and calmly exorcized the Friars from the tournament.
Gomes scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, but received very little support from his teammates. Tuukka Kotti and Rob Sanders both scored eight points for Providence, but that was the extent of the support for Gomes, who forced up 22 shots in his attempt to save his team from its fourth straight loss.
Pacific, on the other hand, possessed a balanced attack led by Miah Davis. The senior guard scored a team-high 19 points, including a huge three-pointer with 1:31 with the shot-clock running down that extended a tenuous four-point lead to an insurmountable seven-point advantage. That clutch shot came after Davis missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but the guard grabbed the rebound and worked the clock before letting go a shot that looked a little like Ben Gordon’s bomb last season in the Big East Tournament. Davis had plenty of help on the offensive end, however, as French import Guillaume Yango contributed 18 points and five rebounds and Tom Cockle added 11 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Turnovers and poor shooting doomed the Friars on the evening. The team committed 15 turnovers in the game, which lead to 23 huge points for the Tigers and allowed Pacific to supplement its 48 percent shooting with some easy baskets. The Friars, meanwhile, had a terrible shooting night, shooting just 38 percent from the field and a dismal 23 percent from the beyond the arc, hitting a mere 6-of-26 shots from three-point range.
Despite the poor shooting, Providence still had a chance coming down the stretch. Two Chris Anrin free throws left Providence facing a four-point deficit with 2:39 remaining, but Davis’ three-pointer and a David Doubley layup were sandwiched around an errant Gomes’ three-pointer. The layup sealed the game for the Tigers, as the Friars were unable to make up the nine-point hole in such a short time.
Pacific extended the nation’s second-longest winning streak to 16 games with the victory, the school’s first NCAA Tournament victory since 1971 and its first first-round win since 1967. Incidentally, Pacific head coach Bob Thomason was a member of that 1970-1971 squad. Pacific moves on to face Kansas on Sunday, while Providence finishes up its season with a four-game losing streak.
