No. 10 Villanova tops Big 5 rival La Salle
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Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Darrun Hilliard and Dylan Ennis each scored 15 points as No. 10 Villanova remained unbeaten with an 84-70 win over rival La Salle on Wednesday in the Big 5 opener for both schools.
Josh Hart and JayVaughn Pinkston had 12 points apiece with Daniel Ochefu adding 10 and eight rebounds for the Wildcats (7-0), who next face Saint Joseph's on Saturday in the 2014 edition of the Holy War between the Catholic institutions.
Jerrell Wright totaled a game-best 19 points for the Explorers (4-3), who play Temple in another rivalry game on Saturday. Khalid Lewis picked up 17 points and Jordan Price had 10 in La Salle's third consecutive loss.
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"We are just taking it one game at a time," said Wright. "This game is over with, and we are just looking forward to playing Temple on Saturday."
Villanova led 4-0 early on but La Salle countered to go up 9-8 on a 3-pointer from Cleon Roberts.
Pinkston hit a bucket a short time later to fuel a 16-5 surge which sent the Wildcats on top 24-14 with 8:24 left in the half on back-to-back shots from Hart.
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A Lewis shot closed the gap to 24-18, but Kris Jenkins drained a trey and Pinkston converted a three-point play to put Villanova up 30-18. Its lead ballooned to 35-20 on a jumper from Ochefu with 4:30 remaining.
A triple from Hilliard boosted Villanova's margin to 18, at 45-27, with just over a minute to play before intermission and that spread stood at the break after Pinkston converted a jumper to make it 47-29.
Price scored four straight and Wright added a layup to shrink La Salle's deficit to 51-40 less than five minutes into the second half.
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However, Ennis hit from long distance on the next possession and within a span of four minutes a Ryan Arcidiacono basket boosted the Villanova lead to 63-44.
Pinkston hit two from the line with 6:09 remaining and the Wildcats led by 20 for the first time, 74-54, before La Salle's last run -- an 11-2 burst capped by two Wright free throws -- pulled it to 80-70 with 2:10 to play.
The Explorers missed their final three shots while Ochefu and Pinkston hit easy buckets to close out the contest.
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Game Notes
Villanova has won 12 of the last 13 meetings since December 2002. La Salle's last win against Villanova was 77-74 (OT) on Nov. 25, 2012 at the Pavilion ... The Wildcats scored 21 points off 13 La Salle turnovers ... Ennis led all players with nine assists.