Amid a pure spectacle in Providence, it was Devin Carter who everyone left talking about

Powered by a 14-2 run late in the second half, Georgetown looked set to do the unthinkable: win one for their new head coach in a return to his old stomping grounds.

With under three minutes left in the game, Jayden Epps buried a 3-pointer to give Georgetown a 69-66 edge — their first lead since midway through the first half.

Prior to these tense closing minutes, the Amica Mutual Pavilion crowd rained boos down on Ed Cooley from the moment he first appeared through the visitors’ tunnel, and they were ready to burst as their Friars built a 12-point second-half advantage.

While the PC crowd relished in making Cooley’s life hell, the Hoyas simply wouldn’t go away all afternoon — and after the Epps three, they had the home fans horrified at the sudden notion of Cooley taking a victory back with him to D.C.

While all of the focus on this game in the weeks (well, months really) leading up to this game was Cooley, Cooley, and more Cooley, there was truly just one star on Saturday.

And he wasn’t standing on the sideline.

Devin Carter put on one of the all-time great performances in Providence history on Saturday, considering the stakes of the matchup and the truly spectacular manner with which he left his imprint on the game.

Providence cut Georgetown’s lead to one after Josh Oduro scored in the paint with 2:32 on the clock, and got the ball back on the ensuing possession after Corey Floyd Jr. tied up Supreme Cook for a jump ball.

Carter then brought the ravenous Friar fans to their feet, and carried his team home the rest of the way.

In a shot that will find its way onto Providence pregame reels for years to come, Carter launched a 27-footer with 1:53 on the clock, and buried it to push PC ahead, 71-69.

Riding the wave of a delirious crowd, Carter sprinted downcourt and let out a scream a few feet in front of the coach who brought him to Friartown two years earlier.

Cooley stood there staring at Carter, for what felt like five seconds, with a wry smile disguising the simmering frustration of seeing Carter turn the tide of the game.

After a timeout, and the Friars clinging to a 71-69 advantage, Carter came up with a steal on Georgetown’s next possession. He finished a layup through a flagrant foul, then hit free throws to push the lead to 76-69. It finally felt okay for Friar supporters to celebrate at that point.

Only, Carter wasn’t quite done yet. After Georgetown cut PC’s lead to 80-76 with 42 seconds left, Carter weaved his way to the rim for a layup. He then came up with a steal and finished with a vicious windmill dunk that put an emphatic stamp on one of the most memorable days in Big East history.

Carter finished with 29 points on 10-14 shooting from the field. He played a significant role in limiting Epps (Georgetown’s 18-point-per-game scorer) to 9-27 shooting from the floor. Carter also came up with four steals and two blocks, while turning the ball over just once in 38 electric minutes.

“Nothing surprises me with him anymore,” Kim English said following Providence’s 84-76 win over Georgetown. “It makes me really happy whenever he gets in one of those competitive spurts.”

Carter’s spurts were jaw-dropping for long portions of this one — like when he threw down a 65-foot toss from Floyd Jr. on what looked like a pass destined for the second row. There was no way Carter was supposed to get to that one, never mind dunk it.

How about the reverse alley oop slam from Jayden Pierre a few minutes later?

“I made eye contact with Jayden on that one lob, and Corey,” he tailed off before smiling. “I don’t even know what that was, but there were some great passes from my teammates for sure.”

“He has some of the best basketball instincts I’ve ever seen. He made some plays I hadn’t ever seen,” Josh Oduro said. “The full court lob — it was amazing.”

Carter was deferential in the post game, telling the media (without prompting) that Oduro (22 points, 8-10 shooting) deserved as much credit as anyone for the victory.

“He’s easily the best big I’ve ever played with in my life,” Carter said of Oduro. “He’s so unselfish and it makes our team go. He’s doing a great job and we love him as our big.”

Oduro was terrific, but this game belonged to Carter.

On a day in which any type of victory would have sufficed, Carter put on a breathtaking show of athleticism in the first half, before donning a cape on in the final two minutes when so much more than a win was on the line.

Carter said little of facing off against his former coach on Saturday. He spoke of the business of the sport in the post game, and likened the experience to being an NBA player who had been traded and seeing his old coach again.

“At the end of the day, Ed recruited me here, so I’m thankful for that opportunity — to bring me into Friartown,” Carter said. “I try to get the win no matter who is on the other side.”

But it wasn’t just anybody on the other side of the floor in this game, and if Devin Carter stated he wasn’t taking this game personally, his play said otherwise.

Carter has taken on the mantle as the face of the program this season, and he played with an urgency that indicated he fully understood that a loss on this particular day simply wasn’t an option.

As the final buzzer sounded, all eyes turned toward Ed Cooley as he set to depart the floor after a brutal loss in front of a relentless crowd. Those eyes reverted over to center court before Cooley ever left, however, as a rising cheer from the Amica Mutual Pavilion crowd turned into a raucous roar for Carter, who was emphatically motioning and yelling to the audience in celebration.

Those eyes and cheers remained locked in on Carter as he and his teammates huddled at center court, and then as he made his way off the floor to chants of “MVP!”

It was a most fitting close.

They came for the return of Ed Cooley, and left marveling about the performance of Devin Carter. The spectacular play of Providence’s star guard had trumped the spectacle of a matchup that meant so much in so many ways.