New York ? Providence has been playing zone defense for years under coach Tim Welsh. The Friars never played as well as they did Tuesday night.

Ryan Gomes had 24 points and 12 rebounds, Donnie McGrath scored all 15 of his points in the second half and Providence used its 2-3 zone to beat No. 14 Illinois, 70-51, in the opening game of the Jimmy V Classic.

“We were active, we rotated and helped each other, just what you’re supposed to do in a zone,” Welsh said.

And the zone did what it’s supposed to do: It made it very difficult for Illinois to score.

“We held Illinois to 30 percent shooting and 21 points in the second half,” said Welsh, in his sixth season at Providence. “That might be the best we’ve played the zone since I’ve been here.”

The Friars (4-1) overcame a terrible start and a 30-24 halftime deficit behind the offense of Gomes and McGrath and the effectiveness of their 2-3 zone that shut down the backcourt of the Illini (4-2).

Providence, coming off a loss at Rhode Island, didn’t score for the opening 71/2 minutes, falling behind 12-0. Despite getting within 12-11, the Friars were down six at halftime and it seemed like it could have been a lot worse.

“I just told them to start playing, that’s all,” Welsh said of the poor start. “I told them at half we were only down six and we just had to start playing.”

Gomes and McGrath scored all the points in an 11-0 run that gave Providence a 44-35 lead with 13:07 to play. Illinois couldn’t get good perimeter shots against the zone and with McGrath starting to hit from the outside and Gomes leading the way inside, the Friars pulled away to the easy victory.

“We didn’t seem to know how to attack the zone all night,” first-year Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “We couldn’t even get open threes and there was nothing we could do to get going.”

McGrath finished 5-for-7 from the field, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range, and had five assists. He hit three 3s in the opening 51/2 minutes of the second half. Rob Sanders added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Friars.

No. 12 Saint Joseph’s 67, Boston College 57

Philadelphia — Delonte West scored 27 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Jameer Nelson added 13 points to lead Saint Joseph’s.

The Hawks (6-0) started slowly with some uncharacteristically sloppy play and off-target shooting before West and Nelson passed and shot the Hawks toward another easy win.

Jermaine Watson had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Boston College (6-1).

N. Iowa 77, No. 24 Iowa 66

Cedar Falls, Iowa — Erik Crawford scored a career-high 24 points, including two late three-pointers, lifting Northern Iowa over Iowa. Northern Iowa (3-3) had been 0-for-14 on three-pointers before hitting three straight in the final 51/2 minutes to pull away from the Hawkeyes (6-1), who broke into the Top 25 for the first time this season Monday. Pierre Pierce led Iowa with 15 points but had only one in the second half.

No. 25 Dayton 66, Louisiana-Lafayette 59

Dayton, Ohio — Ramod Marshall hit two three-pointers in the final 1:33 to lead Dayton over Louisiana-Lafayette. Keith Waleskowski scored 18 points, and Sean Finn and Mark Jones each had 16 for the Flyers (7-0). Finn also had 11 rebounds for his second career double-double. Brad Boyd had 20 points and Antoine Landry added 19 for Louisiana-Lafayette (1-2).