Rodney Bullock scored 18 points and Emmitt Holt had 17 to lead Providence to a 71-54 home victory over Grambling State Saturday at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence.

Jalen Lindsey added 10 points and Kyron Cartwight had eight points and eight assists for the Friars (2-1), who lost at Ohio State in a Gavitt Tipoff (Big East-Big Ten) game Thursday night.

The Friars started slowly, going over six minutes before their first field goal of the game, a 3-pointer by Maliek White. Grambling (1-2) led 17-16 with 7:17 left in the first half and a Cartwright 3-pointer put Providence ahead to stay at 20-18.

Providence built its lead to 21 points with 18:15 left in the game, but the Tigers came back, cutting their deficit to seven with 9:28 remaining.

When the game got close, the Providence defense, -- which forced Grambling into 21 turnovers -- decided the outcome by holding the Tigers scoring nine points the rest of the way.

Averyl Ugba scored 14 points and had eight rebounds for the Tigers, who had four assists. Ervin Mitchell added 13 and Remond Brown had 12.

The Tigers went just 11-for-20 from the foul line, while Providence was 12-for-15. The Friars also went an impressive 9-for-23 from 3-point range, four different players with two 3-pointers apiece.

The Tigers hit just one 3-pointer, taking only two.

The Friars were guilty of 16 turnovers, seven of them by Cartwright, who hit the eight-assist mark coach Ed Cooley has challenged him to hit in every game.