 finally pulled away from the Quakers over the final 2 minutes to avoid a second straight loss to their Philadelphia basketball rival. Justin Moore converted a three-point play to give Villanova the breathing room it needed to hold off pesky Penn (5-4).Jordan Dingle and AJ Brodeur each scored 18 points for Penn. Moore finished with 17 for the Wildcats.The Quakers pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Philly hoops history last season when they knocked off the national champion Wildcats 78-75 at the Palestra. The Wildcats had won a city-record 25 straight games against Big 5 rivals Temple, Saint Joseph's, La Salle and the Quakers. Penn would win the Big 5 title but not the Ivy League crown that could have sent it back to the NCAA Tournament.The Quakers came out determined to prove they were no one-upset wonder. They forced the game into the paint and kept the Wildcats from relying on the 3 to put them away. Brodeur scored 12 points and the Quakers had the game tied at 30-all late in the first half.Jermaine Samuels swayed the game toward Villanova on a monster block on Devon Goodman's fast-break attempt and Bey capitalized with a thunderous jam on the other end that brought the fans to their feet. The dunk gave Bey 23 points, one better than his career high set earlier this season against Army.Much like last season, the Quakers weren't going away.Goodman buried a 3 and quickly dunked off his own steal to bring the 11 1/2-point underdog Quakers within four midway through the second half. Dingle hit a 3 to make it a one-point game and suddenly the thought of another shocker was in full force on Villanova's campus. Penn students stormed the court, tossed streamers, hopped around at midcourt, and mobbed the players after last season's win at the Palestra.The fans inside the Pavilion were all but silenced when the Quakers made it 48-47. The Quakers kept driving inside to keep the deficit within single digits and Dingle got a rise out of the Penn bench on a two-handed dunk. Try as they might, the Quakers couldn't stop Bey and couldn't go on enough of a run to ever take the lead. Goodman hit Penn's seventh 3 to make it 68-64 with Bey on the bench with four fouls.The Wildcats held Penn to only five points over the final 4 minutes to hang on for the tougher-than-necessary victory. Bey was 10 of 18 overall with six rebounds.BIG PICTURE:Penn: The Quakers have never won on Villanova's campus, falling to 0-12.Villanova: The Wildcats have 26 Big 5 titles, second to Temple's 28. Villanova won five straight before the Quakers ended the run last season but the Wildcats seem poised to go hard after another city title this season.UP NEXTPenn: The Quakers have a long layoff until they host Widener on Dec. 21.Villanova: The Wildcats play Sunday at Saint Joseph's in traditionally the biggest city hoops game of the season.)
Dec 03, 2019The No. 23-ranked Villanova Wildcats will continue their run in Big 5 action when they host rival Pennsylvania on Wednesday.Villanova improved to 5-2 following a hard-fought 83-72 win over La Salle Sunday in the first of four Big 5 games.The Wildcats had their 25-game Big 5 winning streak snapped last season by the Quakers, 78-75, at the Palestra. In addition to Villanova, Penn and La Salle, the Big 5 also consists of Temple and Saint Joseph's in an unofficial conference of Philadelphia programs."They just did a better job at halftime with their adjustments and we didn't respond very well," Villanova head coach Jay Wright said after the 11-point win over the Explorers. "That's part of being a young team. This was the first Big 5 game for some of these guys. We've got another tough one coming up Wednesday." The young Wildcats have two freshmen -- Justin Moore and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl -- in the starting lineup for the time since 2002. Moore had arguably his best all-around game this season against La Salle with 25 points and five steals. Sophomore Saddiq Bey had 19 points and 10 rebounds.Though the Wildcats built a 20-point lead, they had to fight off a late charge from La Salle. Every season, Wright points to the Big 5 games as some of the most difficult they'll have all season."I thought we played a good first half and they just came out and really took it to us in the second half. We hung on," Wright said. "With these Big 5 games, you just try to survive them. It's never pretty. You just try to survive and that's what that was." Penn (5-3) will enter this Big 5 battle following a successful trip to the West Coast in which it defeated Long Beach State 95-79 on Sunday in the third-place game of the Wooden Legacy.The Quakers won two of three in the tournament.Senior forward AJ Brodeur extended his double-figure scoring streak to 33 games with a late dunk against the Beach. Brodeur also added nine assists, following a 10-assist game against an Arizona team that was ranked No. 14 at the time.Freshman standout Jordan Dingle led Penn in scoring with 21 points. In eight career games with the Quakers, Dingle has four 20-point games."It's been a great tournament for us," Penn head coach Steve Donahue said. "But more importantly for these guys, it's another chance to be together for six days and really get to have fun with each other. Hopefully that builds your team going forward and get you prepared outside the basketball part of it." The only game Penn loss in the tournament came against Arizona, which will help when they face a ranked Villanova team. Brodeur already has shown that he is comfortable with high-level competition."(Brodeur) allows us to compete with Arizona," Donahue said. "If we don't have him, we don't compete with Arizona, let alone (Villanova) and hopefully the really good teams in our league that we have to play this year." Brodeur knows what it's like to defeat Villanova. He also knows it will be a daunting challenge to accomplish the feat again."We're going to have to play like we did in the second half for 40 minutes going forward," Brodeur told the Daily Pennsylvanian. "I don't think we've played a complete game yet in our season and that's going to have to change when we go forward." --Field Level Media
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