No. 9 St. Johns upset by Villanova as 10-game win streak comes to crashing halt
VILLANOVA, Pa.— Eventually, the slow starts were going to bite St.
John’s.At some point, a shaky first half was going to be too much to overcome.Four times it had trailed by 14 points and won.
Not Wednesday night.Not against a desperate Villanova hoping to play its way onto the NCAA Tournament bubble.Without top reserve Deivon Smith, the ninth-ranked Johnnies couldn’t quite rally out of another hole.
They trailed by 11 in the second half, came back, but then were undone by Tyler Perkins’ 3-pointer in the final seconds of a streak-busting, 73-71 loss to the Wildcats.So good in crunch time during the 10-game winning streak, St.John’s came up short this time.
Eric Dixon hit a pair of 3-pointers deep in the shot clock as part of a 9-2 run that gave Villanova the lead.The Red Storm rallied to go ahead on Simeon Wilcher’s 3-pointer with 27.3 seconds left, but Perkins answered on the other end from deep.
Wilcher’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was off to the right.The usual tenacity was missing on the defensive end.Villanova shot a blistering 53.5 percent from the field and hit 11 3-pointers in 24 attempts.Aaron Scott led St.
John’s with 22 points, and Kadary Richmond added 17 points and 10 assists.Wilcher and RJ Luis each had 12.
Wooga Poplar had 22 points for Villanova.The start was reminiscent of the first half against Connecticut, when St.John’s was in the mud defensively.
The Wildcats made 11 of their first 16 shots and scored 12 of the game’s first 14 points in the paint.There were straight-line drives into the lane and wide open 3-pointers.Villanova held a 10-point lead late in the first half, but like the UConn game, St.
John’s closed the opening 20 minutes well.A 10-2 run, which included 3-pointers from seldom-used reserves Sadiku Ibine Ayo and Lefteris Liotopoulos, cut the deficit to two at the break.
Villanova managed just two points over the final 5:47 of the period.It was still an uncharacteristic half.St.
John’s managed just four ...