One or two more baskets is all that separated Marquette from
enjoying a breakthrough season with two wins against the preseason
Big East favorite.
Coach Jay Wright's sixth-ranked Wildcats refused to
relinquish the top spot that easily. For the second straight
Saturday, Villanova held on down the stretch for a win at the wire
against the Golden Eagles.
Corey Stokes scored 16 points after missing a game with a
hamstring injury and Villanova survived a second scare in eight
days against Marquette in a 78-76 win on Saturday.
"They wore us out a little bit," Wright said.
But it's Marquette that should be tired of going down again
to the Wildcats after four straight losses in 11 months.
The Wildcats (14-1, 3-0 Big East) surged to a 22-point lead
early in the second half only to have it eaten into by a series of
late 3s by the Golden Eagles.
It was the second weekend thriller between the powerhouse
Wildcats and the rebuilding Golden Eagles (10-6, 1-3). Scottie
Reynolds, the star of Villanova's Final Four run last season,
scored the go-ahead basket with 18.1 seconds left last Saturday to
beat Marquette 74-72 in their Big East opener.
Late in this game, Reynolds gave the Golden Eagles an
opportunity when he lost control of the ball just past halfcourt
and Lazar Hayward pounced. Hayward was fouled hard from behind by
Stokes and crashed to the court. Stokes was whistled for an
intentional foul with 27 seconds left that had the home crowd
howling in protest.
Hayward calmly made both to make it 75-73. The Golden Eagles
retained possession, but got nothing out of it once Jimmy Butler
was swarmed on a double team and fumbled away the ball.
This time, the Wildcats pounced.
Antonio Pena made two free throws and Dominic Cheek went 1
for 2 from the line to seal the win.
Reynolds finished with 15 points, and Pena and Corey Fisher
each scored 11.
Hayward finished with 20 points and eight rebounds, and
Darius Johnson-Odum had 16 points. Johnson-Odum tossed in a long 3
at the buzzer to make the final margin only two points.
"I never expected to be up 20," Wright said. "And then you
never expect it to be two."
Hayward sparked reeling Marquette, hitting four 3-pointers in
the second half to help whittle the deficit to single digits and
put Villanova's three-year home winning streak in jeopardy.
It wouldn't end Saturday. The Wildcats won their 35th
straight game at the Pavilion.
"I don't feel sorry for our team, I don't feel sorry for me,
I don't feel sorry for our coaches," Marquette coach Buzz Williams
said.
Stokes sat out Villanova's 99-72 win against DePaul on
Wednesday after straining his right hamstring in Monday's practice.
The 6-foot-5 guard didn't appear bothered by the hamstring in one
of his finest games of the season.
"They got me the ball, they had confidence in me, and I
knocked down shots," Stokes said.
He hit a 3-pointer during an early 14-5 run that helped
Villanova grab a 31-19 lead at the break.
"That's the team we can be," Reynolds said. "There's no limit
on this team if we can do it for 40 minutes. Right now, we're not
capable of doing it as a team for 40 minutes. When we can get to
that point, we can be something special."
Villanova stretched its lead to 52-30 before Marquette --
specifically, Hayward -- really got going.
Hayward's second 3-pointer pulled the Golden Eagles to 59-50
and was the first time their deficit was in the single digits in
the second half. His next 3 chipped it to 61-53 and had the
Wildcats on the ropes.
After his fourth 3 got Marquette all the way back to 64-59,
Wright started screaming and pointing at Hayward's direction to get
a Wildcat to cover him.
"They just started finding the open guy and we were a step
slow in our rotation," Wright said.
Taylor King and Reggie Redding each followed with layups that
temporarily helped fend off Marquette's hard-charging run.
"I'm disappointed we put ourselves in position that we had to
come back," Williams said.
King was involved in a scary moment with 2:10 left when he
dove for a loose ball and his head plowed into Hayward's waist.
King was down for several minutes and was in agony as he grabbed
the back of his head. Wright immediately rushed to King's aid.
King, a transfer from Duke, walked off on his own power and
returned to the bench.
Wright said King suffered a stinger.
The Wildcats shot 63 percent in the second half from the
floor; Marquette kept up by shooting 11 for 23 from behind the arc.
