NEW YORK– This was an instant Big East Classic.
Second-seed Villanova came back from a 17- point second half deficit to defeat St. John’s, 66-65, last night at the Garden to advance to the conference semi-finals against UConn.
it was a privilege to watch this game that wasn’t decided until junior forward Brandon Slater drained a pair of huge free throws after being fouled by Justin Champagnie with 2.8 seconds to play.
Everybody take a breath.
This is only the quarterfinals.
“We knew coming into this game it was going to be this kind of game,” Villanova’s Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright said. “And they were really good. We just toughed it out. And the upperclassmen down the stretch. Collin (Gillespie) making some big plays. Slate was great. And Caleb hit some big shots. Just proud of these guys.”
Daniels, who started in place of Jermaine Samuels, who developed back spasms just before tipoff, led the Cats with 19 points and seven rebounds. Guard Justin Moore, who got off to a 2 for 11 start, finished with 15 points. And Gillespie had 14 points for the eighth-ranked Cats (24-7), who rebounded from a dreadful first half, in which they did not score a point in the paint. They constantly attacked the goal in the final 20 minutes, effectively spreading the floor and shooting 50 percent while outscoring the Johnnies (17-15), 43-35. Nova, an 82 percent free throw shooting team, shot 17 for 20 from the line.
The Cats swept St. John’s this season, winning all three games.
But the Red Storm has constantly improved down the stretch
“When we played them here in the regular season, we won by three and Posh Alexander (their gritty point guard) didn’t play, and Champagnie was hurt in the game. So this league, this year, you can tell. That’s what is great about this tournament this year. I think if you look at the tournaments across the country, you can see the crowds here. You can see the intensity here. It’s on a whole other level. This conference is as good as It’s ever been this year.
“And we just saw that St. John’s was really good. We weren’t down. We weren’t disappointed in how we played in the first half, down seven. We just said this is what it is. We knew they’re good”
The 6-8 Champagnie, a first team all-Big East selection, scored 23 for the Johnnies. And Alexander had nine points and five assists, but frustrated Gillespie for long stretches until he got into foul trouble missing five key minutes of the second half when Villanova got back in the game on the strength of a 18-5 run, cutting the lead to 46-45 with 1025 to play on the strength of three threes from Gillespie, Moore and Daniels and the presence of the versatile 6-7 Samuels, one of the keys to the Cats’ chemistry.
“They told me– he said, ‘I can’t play,”’ Wright said. “The trainer said he can’t move. He didn’t even come out for the start. He wasn’t on the bench at the beginning of the game.
“And then he just appeared on the bench. I don’t know what the time was, but whenever he appeared, I just put him in the game. We were just ready to go without him.
“He didn’t look great early. He was a little shaky early, but he said, ‘I’m good’ I think by halftime I thought he looked normal. He was really good in the second half. Just one of those bizarre things. But that’s what it was.”
Villanova never panicked during stress, even though starting center Eric Dixon was only able to play for 14 minutes after throwing up all day, forcing Wright to play with three guards and two forwards.
“I think that’s the kind of stuff we work on every day in practice, game situations,” Gillespie said. “And our white team in practice does a great job preparing us each and every day for each game. They push us to make us better in practices. But i think it’s just something that this group has dealt with all year. We’ve been in tough situations and just stuck together and I think we’ve learned from tougher situations and just struck together through it all.”
St. John’s still look like it had a chance to steal the game when Stef Smith made a traditional three- point play to take a 65-64 lead with 2:08 to play but nova got one final possession after Champagnie missed a three- point jumper with 30 seconds left. Gillespie grabbed the rebound and Villanova held for the last shot. Samuels had a driving layup blocked but grabbed the rebound and got the ball Slater who was fouled.
“We do it in practice,” he said, “but we put pressure on ourselves to make it like a game rep every single time in practice.”
