Written by Ernie Casanova
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL— In the final day of the AdvoCare Invitational, fans were in for a probable NCAA Tournament matchup as the defending National Champions Villanova Wildcats battled the Florida State Seminoles in the first place game. Villanova got off to a quick start on the ‘Noles, but head coach Leonard Hamilton kept his guys composed and prevented the Wildcats from developing a large lead. The Wildcats were able to hold off a surging Seminoles team by a score of 66-60, becoming the 2018 AdvoCare invitational Champions.
Villanova scored the first points of the game and got off to a quick 8-2 run to go up 10-2 in the first four minutes. After Jermaine Samuels hammered it down for the Wildcats to give them a 12-4 lead, the Seminoles went on an 8-0 run to tie the game up at 12. Eric Paschall hit a two-point jumper on the ensuing drive and hit six of the teams’ final 14 points to finish the half. After Paschall hit two consecutive free throws, FSU’s David Nichols drove it in hard for a jumper in the paint at the buzzer beater to head into the halftime down 26-25. It was obviously a pro-Villanova crowd with there being more blue V’s in the stands than maroon FSU letters.
The Seminoles still didn’t budge as they were doing their best fighting off this talented Wildcats team, along with their heavily supportive fans. To start the second half, Villanova struck first again on a Collin Gillespie layup. Gillespie by then was responsible for 11 out of the 28 points on the scoreboard for the Wildcats. After PJ Savoy and Terance Mann converted two three-pointers in a row to take the lead, Gillespie again drained a jumper to calm things down. He scored six of the team’s first nine points in the second half, but the Seminoles were just a handful to get rid of as things started to heat up.
The Wildcats were leading 52-46 when Trent Forrest hit a layup, followed by RaiQuan Gray layup and free throw after a foul to make it 52-51. Phil Booth drained a jumper and a free throw in consecutive fashion for the Wildcats, followed by a Dhamir Cosby-Rountree layup and four straight points from Saddiq Bey. It was 61-54, and Forrest made a shot along with the foul. He converted on the free throw, but Paschall and Gillespie combined for five converted free throws to finish the Seminoles off in a classic AdvoCare battle to remember.
Although much of the Wildcats’ starters were in positive figures, the Seminoles outscored them in bench points total, 33-4. Florida State used all of the help they could, but they just couldn’t hold off this talented Wildcats team. Mfiondu Kabengele led the Seminoles with 11 points and seven rebounds, with Forrest also adding 11 of his own. Mann finished with nine points and five rebounds as it was a quiet outing from the Senior.
For the Wildcats, Gillespie led the way with 17 points shooting 7-11 from the field. Paschall finished with 15 points while Booth added 12 points and four rebounds. Cosby-Roundtree, who finished the tournament as the MVP dropped 11 points on 100% shooting (5-5) with eight rebounds.
