PROVIDENCE — So much for upsets.

In the moments after the Vermont Catamounts sprung a six-point upset of Rutgers last Sunday, Marshon Brooks kept feeling his cell phone jingle in his pocket.

“As soon as they beat Rutgers, I got seven or eight calls from (assistant) coach (Pat) Skerry. Then the whole coaching staff,” he said. “I knew they posed a threat before that, but after they beat Rutgers, we were like ‘OK, it’s going to be a good one.’”

After hearing their coaches pump the Cats up for a few days, Brooks and his Providence Friar teammates ripped any upset dreams the visitors may have owned early on Tuesday night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. PC led by 30 points by halftime and cruised its way to a 106-64 romp before 6,954 fans.

Despite the lofty offensive output, PC’s calling card in the game was its defense. Playing a stingy man-to-man and an aggressive, trapping press, the Friars may have put together their best defensive efforts in Keno Davis’ short tenure as head coach. The Catamounts (2-2) were held to 36-percent shooting and turned the ball over a whopping 23 times.

“I didn’t think we could turn them over as much as we did,” said Davis, “but I saw that Vermont wanted to play in the halfcourt so we needed to force the tempo. The more possessions in this game, the more it favored us.”

PC (4-1) bounced back from its loss at Alabama by combining the strong defensive effort with a well-rounded offense. show. When the game was still in doubt, Brooks (24 points) and Jamine Peterson (20 points, 5 rebounds)dominated

In an up-and-down, free-wheeling second half, the Friars saw Kyle Wright (13 points, three treys) take up the offensive slack and newcomers Duke Mondy (8 points, 4 steals) and James Still (7 boards) continue to show promise.

The Catamounts were led by impressive senior forward Marqus Blakely. The reigning America East Player of the Year put up 24 points and 10 rebounds. Unfortunately, he had little help.

The bounce-back effort was yet another test for a Providence team that is experiencing new circumstances with each passing week. The Friars let a big road win slip away at Alabama but took care of business in smashing style against a team picked to contend for the America East title.

“We knew we had to come out and play our hardest and set the tempo for the game,” said Mondy. “We’re getting better, just a better vibe, better chemistry.”

Davis was more than pleased with his team’s dominant effort. “You don’t know how a team is going to respond, especially a team that is as young as this one,” he said. “For us to come out and have that kind of intensity, running the court, rebounding the ball, talking on defense, that’s a really good sign for us.”

The Friars actually didn’t play all that well over the opening eight minutes yet still held the massive halftime lead. The two teams were only two points apart (13-11) early on as PC shot 6-of-17. After that, sloppy ballhandling and some hard line PC defense took the game over. PC broke the game open with a 20-4 run to go ahead, 56-26, at the break.

The second half was little more than extended playground ball. The Friars strung up 50 more points in an open, running game that wiped out the Catamounts and gave the team plenty of positive thoughts heading into this Saturday’s home date with Boston College.