#4 Villanova Wildcats Defeat St. John’s Red Storm 81-71 Saturday at Garden

Villanova defeated St. John’s at Madison Square Garden yesterday 81-71. St. John’s shot well from the field in the fist half (13-for-23, 56.5 percent) but didn’t fare as well in the second half (11-for-38, 28.9 percent). The poor shooting in the 2nd half cost the Red Storm the game. Dwight Hardy tied a career-high with 19 points and was 5-of-9 in 3 point shooting. Hardy has the hot hand in the World’s Most Famous Arena with 19 points in his last three Garden games. D.J. Kennedy had 10 points on the day. Sean Evans had 9 total rebounds, all in the 2nd half. This was the first start of the season for Anthony Mason Jr. and finished with 10 points. Freshman Omari Lawrence finished with a career-high eight points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. One of my favorite players, Justin Burrell from the Bronx, finished with 5 points and 6 six rebounds in only 15 minutes off the bench. With a little better shooting in the 2nd half they could have beaten the highly ranked Wildcats. St. John’s is 12-7 on the season, but only 2-5 in the Big East Conference.