Even though Senior Scottie Reynolds only made 2 of his first 15 shots, his clutch free throws at the end of the game kept ‘Nova alive and put the Wildcats into Overtime.

As we noted on our Twitter feed before tipoff, Reynolds did not start the game as a “teaching point” by Coach Wright. The Senior ended the game with 20 points.

Robert Morris was led by Karon Abraham who shot 5-11 from long distance and led the Colonials with 23 points.

The Wildcats only out-rebounded Robert Morris by 2 but forced 21 turnovers on the NEC champions.

Freshman big man Mouphtaou Yarou contributed 17 points and 8 rebounds. Taylor King added 10 points from the bench for ‘Nova in 15 minutes.

As a team, the Main Line squad only shot 27% from 3-Point Land and 35% from the field as a whole.

Villanova will play St. Mary’s College on Saturday in Providence. [Tickets]

Corey Stokes had a hot hand for Villanova (24-7, 13-5) going 6-7 from 3 to lead the Wildcats with 22, but that was not enough.

‘Nova will now sit back until Sunday as they wait to see where they will be place in the NCAA Bracket.

More to come…

Despite holding the Mountaineers to only 16 points in the first half, Villanova (24-6, 13-5) was outscored by 13 in the second half and needed an NBA-range 3-pointer from Corey Fisher with 13 seconds remaining to send the game to the extra frame.

In OT, Villanova made 3 free throws and didn’t record a field goal until 35 seconds remained. After going ahead on a Da’Sean Butler layup with 5.3 seconds remaining, Scottie Reynolds couldn’t connect on a buzzer beating 3-pointer to win the game for ‘Nova.

If he did, his legend would have grown.

Reynolds led the Wildcats with 17 points and is now in 2nd place on Villanova’s all-time scoring list. Corey Fisher added 12 points for Nova and Corey Stokes had 11.

Nova’s 13-5 finish means the Wildcats will either finish with the 3rd seed for the Tournament or the 4th, if Pittsburgh defeats Rutgers this evening.

NOTE: Taylor King did not play as a “teaching point”.

The Wildcats (24-5, 13-4) got 17 points from Scottie Reynolds- all in the second half to lead the team over the Bearcats.

6 Villanovans were in double digits in scoring- Corey Stokes returned to form and had 14 behind 3-6 shooting from Three Point Range. Reggie Redding added 11 on 3-5 shooting and Antonio Pena, Corey Fisher, and Mouphtaou Yarou each had 10.

VU had a 16-point lead with 6:19 to go, but Cincy inched back into the game with a 17-4 run behind the facts that Cincinnati outrebounded (30-28) Villanova and had fewer turnovers.

Villanova did record an assist on 14 of 21 fieldgoals- a season high.

The Wildcats will take on West Virginia next on Saturday when they tip off at noon from the Wachovia Center.

Update:  Game Results:   With the Cats pulling out a tough road win at Cincinnati,  77-73,  we congratulate five VUHoops readers took medals in this final round.  Gold Medals:  cdtoffers (76-73) and Bill’77 (78-73), earning 5 points each; Silver Medals:  Jim K (76-72) and NJSuper’Nova (78-72), earning 3 points each; Bronze Medal:  EDM’09 (78-75), earning 1 point. 

Contest Results:  After 25 hard-fought rounds, Andy’06, who was shut out over the final five rounds, held on to win first place.  Jim K, winning three medals in the final four rounds tied Pete, who also was shut out over the final five rounds, with 18 points.  Under the contest rules, “in the event of a tie, the winner will be determined through predetermined tie breakers.  The first tie breaker will be the number of times the contestants won medals over the course of the season, without regard to type.” Jim K won six medals vs. Pete’s five medals, taking second on the tie breaker.  Pete takes third place.  Check out where you stood among the the 65 readers on our final leader board.

The ‘Cats (23-5, 12-4) were again plagued by fouls, committing more fouls (25-14) than Syracuse and allowing the Orange to get to the free throw line 15 more times. Rebounding, generally a strength for the Wildcats, was another major issue as they were dominated on the glass, 48-36. ‘Cuse also won the turnover battle,  16-10. Post defense was another issue as Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson combined for 36 points on 16-25 shooting.Jay Wright’s squad was plagued by inefficient shooting from deep, finishing 8-28 for the game. Although the ‘Cats shot very similar percentages to the Orange from the field (41.8% to Cuse’s 43.2%) and free throw line (72.2% vs. 72.7%), they did so on considerably less attempts from both.

Scottie Reynolds led they way for ‘Nova, who had four players in double figures, with 16 points. A major bright spot for Wildcats fans that could be a good sign of things to come this season was the play of Mouphtaou Yarou, who had a career night with 13 points and 8 boards on efficient (6-8) shooting against a strong Syracuse frontcourt.  

This loss eliminates Villanova’s chances of winning the regular seasion in the Big East, although they are guaranteed to receive a double bye in the Big East Tournament by finishing in the top four of the conference (thanks to the posters who pointed this out!). The Wildcats currently stand alone in second place in the conference, 2 games behind Syracuse and 1 ahead of West Virginia.

‘Nova (23-4, 12-3) got 21 points from Scottie Reynolds on Senior Night and an additional 14 from Antonio Pena as the Wildcats shot 47% from the floor (27-58) while forcing 22 USF turnovers.

The Bulls got within 2 points (14-16) with 10 minutes to go and kept ‘Nova within site only being down 9 at the intermission. USF maintained pace with the Wildcats, staying within single digits down, but the Bulls could not keep pace as Villanova outscored the visitors 28-10 over the final 10 minutes of the game.

The win is Villanova’s 37th Consecutive Win at The Pavilion and set VU on the winning way as they head to Northern New York to take on #3 Syracuse on Saturday evening.

‘Nova (22-4, 11-3) was only out-rebounded by 3 in the game, but it seemingly never grabbed the crucial boards.

Scottie Reynolds led the way with 20 for Villanova, but had 6 turnovers, some in a manner unexpected of the senior leader.

The Wildcats shot a respectable 45% from the floor, including 6-14 (43%) from distance while holding Pitt to 35% shooting and only 4 Three-Pointers.

Villanova hasn’t lost two consecutive games since February 25th and March 2nd in 2008.

The Huskies were led by Kemba Walker who scored a career high 29 points. Although Connecticut bested Villanova in FG% (48.9% to 40.6%) the Wildcats shot respectably. The difference came from the charity stripe and on the boards. UConn shot 24 more Free Throws than ‘Nova, making 35 as opposed to VU’s 16. On the rebounding side, ‘Nova was outrebounded 36-22- the largest rebound difference this year for Jay Wright’s squad.

Scottie Reynolds led the way for Villanova with 18 points. Corey Fisher added 14 and big-man Antonio Pena had 10 before fouling out.

‘Nova (22-3, 11-2) moves into a ties for first with Syracuse in the conference. The Wildcats next play at Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The score was knotted at 53 with 13:06 to play.  That’s when Fisher, Reynolds and Stokes took over, combining for 31 points the rest of the way as ‘Nova outscored Providence 39-28 to take an 11 point victory.  

Scottie Reynolds continued his recent pattern of saving his best for last, scoring 17 of his 22 points during the second half.  Corey Fisher was outstanding driving to the hoop all day, and matched Scottie’s 22 points.  The two made 16 of 29 shots from the field and combined for seven assists. Antonio Pena also had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

The critical turning point in the game came with 8:07 to play as the Friar’s 5-10 PG, Sharaud Curry (19 points), fouled Scotty Reynolds, riding him 10 feet out of bounds.  He snapped at the referee after being called for the foul, adding insult to injury with a technical foul and disqualification from the game.  Scottie hit three of the four ensuing free throws to give the Cats a 67-60 lead and, more importantly, the momentum.  Afterwards, Scottie said of the play, “”I just made a cut to the basket and we got tangled up.  Away from the play, we’re still tangled. We got untangled and he did what he did.”

The Cats shot 47% from the field, while holding the high-scoring Friars to 39% shooting.  Led by Antonio Pena’s 12 rebounds, Villanova out-rebounded the Friars 42-28.

The win was Jay Wright’s 200th at Villanova.  The #4 Cats are now tied with #2 Syracuse atop the Big East leader board.  Syracuse plays Louisville on Sunday at the Carrier Dome.

NOVA BOX SCORE

Closest to the Pin Game Results: With the Cat’s solid 92-81 win at Wachovia, we congratulate seven VUH readers who took medals in this round.  Gold Medals:  NJ Super’Nova (91-81), earning 5 points; Silver Medals:  Kmac (91-80) and Pete (92-79), earning 3 points each; Bronze Medals:  Andy ‘06 (95-81), David (90-82), NovaCat94 (92-78), and Winston (91-83), earning 1 point each.  For the standings after 20 rounds, see our updated Leader Board.