Villanova upsets No. 16 Xavier; St. Joe’s men, Temple women come up short
The win for the Wildcats marked Villanova's first against a ranked opponent while skids for the Hawks men and Owls women continued in City 6 hoops action Tuesday night.
Villanova picked up a big-time road win Tuesday night, defeating No. 16 Xavier, 64-63, inside the Cintas Center in Cincinnati.
The victory marked the first against a Top 25-ranked opponent this season for the Wildcats with just three games remaining before the start of the Big East conference tournament on March 8. Senior guard Justin Moore led Villanova (14-14, 8-9 Big East) with a game-high 25 points, shooting 10 of 13 from the field, and 4 of 7 from three-point range.
Freshman guard Cam Whitmore added 11 points as the Wildcats rallied from a six-point halftime deficit. Villanova led by five with a little over two minutes remaining after a three-pointer from Moore put the game at 64-59 with 2 minutes, 13 seconds left to play.
However, it wouldn’t be a Villanova game this season without a scare. Xavier (20-8, 12-5) took advantage of two late Villanova turnovers with under a minute remaining to bring the game to within one. Xavier’s Souley Boum, who led the Musketeers with 17 points, missed a layup with just 5 seconds remaining, and a definitive rebound from Villanova forward Brandon Slater secured the win.
With just three games remaining, the Wildcats have an opportunity to further pad their tournament resume with two of their remaining coming against ranked opposition.
The Wildcats’ next chance comes against No. 19 Creighton (18-9, 12-4) at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday (noon, Fox 29), followed by a road trip to Seton Hall on Feb. 28 (8:30 p.m., FS1) before the regular-season finale against No. 18 UConn on March 4 (7:30 p.m., Fox 29).
St. Joseph’s routed by A-10 foe VCU
Eric Reynolds II scored a team-high 21 points but St. Joseph’s saw its losing skid extend to three games following an 88-63 loss to Virginia Commonwealth inside Hagan Arena on Tuesday.
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Freshman forward Rasheer Fleming turned in one of his best defensive performances for the Hawks (13-15, 7-9 Atlantic 10), grabbing a game-high 11 boards.
However, it was a VCU (21-7, 12-3) team led by Jayden Nunn’s 31-point outing that proved to be too much for St. Joseph’s, shooting 52.5% from the field and 57.9% from three on 11 of 19 shooting.
With just two games remaining in the regular season, the Hawks will look to snap their losing streak on the road against St. Bonaventure (13-15, 7-8) on Sunday (noon, USA Network).
Temple comes up short against Central Florida
Temple’s Aleah Nelson scored a game-high 18 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Owls fell to Central Florida, 57-53, in women’s basketball action at the Addition Arena in Orlando.
It would be an inability to grab key rebounds off missed UCF (12-13, 3-10 American) shots in the final minute that did the Owls (10-16, 5-9) in, despite roaring back from a six-point halftime deficit with a monster third-quarter performance. Tierra East added 14 points and Tarriyona Gary finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Anzhane Hutton led UCF with 17 points and 11 boards off the bench.
Just two regular-season games remain for the Owls. The first is a trip to Wichita State (15-11, 5-8) on Saturday (3 p.m., ESPN+) before closing at home against Southern Methodist (15-9, 6-6) on March 1 (7 p.m., ESPN+).