Broad Street Beat
  • Home
  • Flyers
  • Eagles
  • Sixers
  • City 6 Basketball
  • Phillies
  • Fantasy
  • Miscellaneous
  • Dunkin Tracker
  • About Us
  • South Beach Beat
  • Broad Street Worldwide
  • Restroom Review

Villanova Remains Poised in Win Over Saint Joseph’s

12/1/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
In rivalry games, there are never any guarantees.
​
With the extra emotion and adrenaline of playing your most hated competitor, being the favored team often means little, especially on the road.

On Tuesday night, Villanova visited Hagan Arena to take part in the Holy War against Saint Joseph’s with the hopes of leaving at the end of the night with a 7-0 record. The Wildcats would do just that – taking the game 86-72 – but not without a few tense moments that saw the Hawks pull within five and the crowd get raucous.

Moments like those are when Villanova’s veteran leadership and poise tend to be on full display.

“They’re good on offense. They’re great on defense. But their intangibles are so far off the chart,” Saint Joseph’s Coach Phil Martelli said of Villanova. “That team, there is no mistaking it, they play fierce. And that’s what they did.”

After hitting eight three pointers in the first half, the Wildcats headed to the locker rooms at Hagan with a 42-32 lead, but Saint Joseph’s would not be quite ready to call it a night.

Early in the second half, the Hawks would rattle off a 12-2 run to pull within 54-49, as the arena grew louder and louder and each play began to mean that much more.

It was then that Villanova displayed what makes them the eighth-ranked team in the nation. With 13:44 remaining in the game, senior Ryan Arcidiacono would knock down a three to put Villanova up eight and halt much of the momentum that Saint Joseph’s had built.

“They went on a little run and the place was going crazy, so I know that during that time we just tried to settle down and get back to trying to drive and space,” Arcidiacono said.

The Wildcats would do just that, regaining command and stretching their lead to as much as 18 on their way to an 86-72 win over the Hawks.

While there are many meaningful plays in any given game, this game seemed to have come down to one big shot, that three by Arcidiacono to stop the bleeding and shift the momentum back in Villanova’s favor.

“I was on the bench when they cut it to five,” said Josh Hart. “When that happened, I looked at our leader and that’s Ryan (Arcidiacono) and he made the play. When teams are going on those runs, when we are fighting some adversity, he’s our leader. No matter what, he always has that ready to go attitude. He was the one that made that play, made that shot and jumpstarted us in that situation.”

Under Arcidiacono’s leadership, the Wildcats were able to improve to 7-0 on the season, as the guard tallied 17 points, three rebounds and three assists. Villanova would receive equally big performances from juniors Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins, who scored 18 points apiece and combined to pull in 15 rebounds.

The Hawks would be led in the loss by DeAndre’ Bembry, who amassed 17 points and six rebounds to lead five Saint Joseph’s players in double-digit scoring. Those efforts would not be enough for Saint Joseph’s, however, as Villanova displayed a veteran poise in weathering the storm in order to get the win.

By: Kyle Babcock
Follow us on Twitter: @BroadStBeat
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Just when I thought you couldn't possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this... and totally redeem yourself!

    -Jeff Daniels 
    (Dumb & Dumber)
    Tweets by @BroadStBeat

    Archives

    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All
    Atlantic 10
    Atlantic 10
    Ben
    City 6
    City 6
    Dan
    Eagles
    Flyers
    Kyle
    Leo
    Matt
    Misc
    Mlb
    Mls
    Nba
    Ncaa
    Nfl
    Nhl
    Phillies
    Podcast
    Sixers
    Soul
    Steve
    Union

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.