Written by Ernie Casanova
HARTFORD, CT– After the first two games consisted of higher seeds struggling against their lower ranked opponent, the trend continued in the third contest of the night here at the XL Center in Downtown Hartford. The defending champions Villanova Wildcats entered this year’s tournament as a #6 seed with a chip on their shoulder. The Wildcats are a very talented squad, and winning a tournament earlier this year at the Advocare Classic in Orlando, Florida proves how they can kick it into gear when the time is right.
Although they might be favored due to name and ranking, they had to face off against another very talented team in the St. Mary’s Gaels. It was expected to be a battle as the Gaels come from a very competitive WCC conference, and that’s exactly what the fans here in Central Connecticut received. Villanova, in the end, closed it out late against a surging Gaels team by a score of 61-57.
The Gaels won the tip-off but quickly turned the ball over, with Villanova’s Jermaine Samuels taking advantage and draining one from deep. It was 3-0, and Saddiq Bey hit another one from beyond the arc to put the Wildcats up 6-0. The arena was full of naysayers, all being ready to count St. Mary’s out, but the Gaels came surging back to even out the scoreboard. The Gaels went on a 7-1 run to take a 13-12 lead a couple of minutes later as the contest remained tight from this point on. Collin Gillespie sunk in a layup for Villanova to give them a 19-15 lead shortly after, but the Gaels stayed on track and sunk in three straight attempts without a miss to tie it at 23-23 shortly after. As both teams traded shots again for the rest of the quarter, they headed into the locker room with the contest tied up at 30-30.
Villanova scored first to start the second half with a jumper from Phil Booth and on the ensuing possession, Booth drives it into the basket for another quick two to regain the lead for the Wildcats. After Booth converted a free throw due to a foul, it was 33-30 as Jordan Ford pulled up from beyond the arc for the Gaels to hush the idea that Villanova was slipping away. The combo of Bey and Samuels scored again consecutively, and the Wildcats were now up 40-33 with the Gaels having to call for a timeout. After the timeout, each team would trade shots for the next five minutes, but St. Mary’s was having trouble remaining close as they kept trailing by five to seven points. After Villanova took a 47-42 lead, the score wouldn’t change for almost three minutes, until an Eric Paschall three-pointer extended the Wildcats’ lead. At the 6:00 mark, the Wildcats started a 7-2 run that deemed to be too much for the Gaels to come back from with such little time.
After a close call due to a late inbounding penalty on the Wildcats, St. Mary’s had a chance but couldn’t come up with the miracle. The Wildcats take the victory and will come back to the XL Center for a showdown against the winner of Purdue vs Old Dominion. The Gaels moved the ball around well as many of their starters contributed, but not to the extent of Villanova’s star players. Leading the Gaels was Ford and Malik Fitts with 13 points each. Fitts had seven rebounds while Ford added three assists. Behind them was Tanner Krebs and Tommy Kuhse with eight points each, as Kuhse added five rebounds.
For the Wildcats, three of their starters had great offensive nights. Guard Phil Booth led the team with 20 points and six assists, with Paschall adding 14 points and six rebounds. Samuels added 12 points with seven rebounds as he may be considered the hero of this game due to many clutch buckets, including one near the end that concluded with a foul as well. Villanova stays alive one more week to defend their title against the winner of Purdue vs Old Dominion.
