PROVIDENCE - Turnovers being the root of most evils on the basketball floor were rooted in the Providence College Friars losing its two previous Big East outings, a ghastly exchange of the ball 46 times.

But, against the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers Saturday before a Homecoming gathering of 10,397 at the Dunk, the Friars lost possession of the ball just nine times by indiscretions.

That turnover rate, and an impressive front-court display by the Bruise Brothers - Herbert Hill (20 points), Geoff McDermott (19) and Jonathan Kale (13) - resulted in a 78-63 decision for the Friars over Rutgers.

The victory was the 11th straight at home for the Friars, now 13-5 overall, 3-2 in the Big East.

"We're finding our identity with our inside game in this league,'' said Kale as the Friars scored 46 points in the paint and 10 of its 35 rebounds were on the offensive backboard. "We know that if we control the tempo, we can play well." Hill also gathered in 13 rebounds and blocked five shots, McDermott hit six of nine shots from the floor, had eight rebounds and dished out six assists and Kale hit on five of six shots. In addition, guard Sharaud Curry contributed 13 points with four assists.

"We handled the ball better," said PC coach Tim Welsh. "If you do that you have more possessions. We concentrated more, we played with more purpose on offense."

The Friars set the tone in the first six minutes, hitting six of their first eight field goal attempts in taking a 12-2 lead. Then the Friars went on a 12-0 spurt with freshman Brian McKenzie hitting a three-pointer, McDermott making a three-point play and Weyyinmi Efejuku twice scoring inside the lane for a 26-11 margin.

That was greatly aided by an offensively-challenged Rutgers (8-11, 1-5) team which was averaging just 59.8 points and shooting just 39 percent from the floor. The Scarlet Knights misfired on 15 of their first 20 field goal attempts and went scoreless for nearly eight minutes.

That trend continued against the Friars' zone defense at the outset of the second half too, Rutgers making just two of its first nine shots, PC climbing out to a 39-26 advantage.

PC, with McDermott making another three-point play and Curry downing a three-pointer went on an 11-2 spree to create a 17-point margin, at 56-39 with just over eight minutes to go.

"We have a certain level of confidence at home," added Welsh, the Friars scoring 47 second-half points on 62 percent (15-for-24) shooting. Efejuku was floored by Rutgers' Frank Russell with 1:55 left, "an act of stupidity, that warrants a suspension," said Walsh, while senior Charlie Burch (back) sat out the game.

After having Curry miss four games, freshman Dwain Williams miss one, a previous back injury to Efejuku, and freshman forward Ray Hall also missing time with a bad back, the practice sessions and the game rotations were altered.

Welsh can live with that, just not turnovers.

"We had periods where we didn't do what we had to do (against Rutgers) and we're not getting the flow that we were a month ago. But the core group of guys is getting back to where they should be."