St. John's Red Storm vs Villanova Wildcats Match Player Stats On Feb 26, 2020

Saddiq Bey scored 23 points, Justin Moore added 21 and No. 12 Villanova held off visiting St. John's 71-60 on Wednesday.

Jermaine Samuels contributed 10 rebounds, while Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had seven points and eight rebounds for the Wildcats (22-6, 11-4 Big East).

Villanova won its fifth in a row.

Marcellus Earlington and Rasheem Dunn paced St. John's with 12 points each, while Greg Williams Jr. and Julian Champagnie had 10 apiece for the Red Storm (14-14, 3-12).

St. John's dropped its third straight and continued to rack up losses without injured second-leading scorer Mustapha Heron, who could miss the rest of the season.

Bey's third 3-pointer put Villanova ahead 21-12 with 10:11 remaining in the first half.

Earlington provided six early points off the bench to keep St. John's within 24-18.

Samuels then responded with a jumper to extend the Wildcats' advantage to eight with 5:43 left.

St. John's head coach Mike Anderson was whistled for a technical foul with 3:12 to go and Collin Gillespie dropped in both for a 35-22 lead.

But the Red Storm came back with a 10-0 spurt to cut the lead to 35-32.

Villanova took a 36-34 advantage at halftime thanks primarily to Bey's 14 points.

St. John's quickly tied the score early in the second before the Wildcats bolted to a 10-0 run for a 46-36 lead with 16:12 left.

Champagnie broke the run with a difficult driving layup and foul for a three-point play to close St. John's within seven. When Williams knocked down a long jumper from the wing, the deficit was 48-43 with 12:47 remaining.

Gillespie, who missed 10 of his first 11 shots, hit a jumper for a 56-51 Villanova lead with 6:52 left. Robinson-Earl then made four straight free throws for a nine-point advantage.

With the Red Storm trailing 65-56, LJ Figueroa missed a 3-pointer for St. John's and Moore came back with a layup and a jumper for a 69-56 lead with 1:51 left.

--Field Level Media