Friars setting lofty goals

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2001 | 10:39 a.m.

Las Vegas Tournament

At Valley High School

Today

Seventh-place game: Ark-Monticello vs. Austin Peay, noon

Fifth-place game: Northwestern St. vs. Siena, 2:30 p.m.

Third-place game: Providence vs. UTEP, 5 p.m.

Championship: TCU vs. Oklahoma State, 7:30 p.m.

Las Vegas Invitational

At Valley High School

Thursday

Ga. Tech vs. Eastern Illinois, noon

Iowa St. vs. S. Illinois, 2:30 p.m.

Saint Louis vs. Hartford, 5 p.m.

Illinois vs. Penn, 7:30 p.m.

Never mind that the leading scorer from last year's team that went 21-10 is gone.

Forget, too, that the team's leading rebounder is also history.

There are still plenty of lofty expectations at Providence for the team that finished 11-5 in Big East play and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season.

Except the edict to succeed isn't only coming from the fans.

It originated in the locker room.

"We have high expectations for ourselves," Friars senior guard John Linehan said following a 93-84 victory over Austin Peay in the third round of pool play of the Las Vegas Tournament at Valley High School on Tuesday. "We want to make it back to the tournament.

"We want to go deep into the tournament. Other people have high expectations for us, but we're not really worried about it. We set high goals for ourselves."

Providence, picked in the preseason coaches' poll to finish fourth in the Big East's East Division, improved to 2-1 and Austin Peay fell to 0-3.

So far, the Friars have displayed all of the characteristics of youth on the court: heaps of potential counterbalanced with loads of inexperience.

Friars head coach Tim Welsh is banking on the backcourt of Linehan, the 2001 Big East defensive player of the year and preseason All-Big East first team selection, and junior Abdul Mills to provide some stability to the team.

Against a pesky Austin Peay team that refused to quit, Linehan scored a layup and sank four free throws in the final two minutes en route to a game-high 26 points while Mills went 5-of-7 for 20 more.

"They're as strong a backcourt in the Big East, in my opinion, and I wouldn't trade them for anybody," Welsh said. "They feed off each other, look for each other; they're leaders and tough defenders.

"They keep us together in games like tonight and they're the reason why we won. Because we have so much youth up front and on the bench, those are the guys we're going to look for in crunch time."

The Friars also received a huge lift with the return of sophomore forward Maris Laksa.

Laksa, who served a two-game suspension for violating an NCAA rule regarding amateurism, delivered 24 points and snagged seven of his eight rebounds in the second half when the Friars increased their intensity defensively to eventually pull away.

Welsh also got some decent production out of sophomore forward Marcus Douthit and freshman Rob Sanders. Both were needed in the paint to fill in for Romuald Augustin and Chris Anrin, who were out with injuries.

"We're a young team, but that's why we're at this tournament," Welch said.

"To get better and take some of that youth and turn it into experience. Until we can grow up, we're going to have days like this where it's a struggle."

Against Austin Peay and in a second round loss to Oklahoma State, Providence struggled at times with its shot selection and taking care of the ball, problems that can be corrected over time.

Welsh understands that his team is in for some growing pains, but is confident in its ability to survive the adversity.

"I think these guys understand winning," Welch said.

In Tuesday's other games:

The Cowboys (4-0) trailed 57-54 with 7:32 left, then outscored Siena 28-7 the rest of the way. They did not miss a shot or free throw in that span.

Siena (1-2) missed nine straight shots before Dwayne Archbold's 3-pointer with 44 seconds remaining.

Junior Blount added 23 points for the Horned Frogs and Corey Santee had 22. Santee also had nine assists.

The Demons (1-3) made 34 of 60 shots (56.7 percent) including 12-of-25 from 3-point range in winning for the first time following two losses in the round-robin format of this tournament, which concludes today.