Jan 15, 2003

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NEW YORK (AP) - Randy Foye scored 20 points, Ricky Wright had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Villanova straightened out its free throw shooting for an 82-73 victory over St. John's on Wednesday night to snap a nine-game road losing streak.

The Wildcats (10-5, 3-0 Big East) last won on the road exactly a year ago, Jan. 15, 2002, at Virginia Tech.

Marcus Hatten had 24 points and Anthony Glover added 20 for St. John's (8-5, 1-2), which had beaten Villanova the last six times they played at Madison Square Garden.

Both teams entered the game shooting 65.9 percent from the foul line and that number looked almost unattainable with three minutes to play.

St. John's was 18-for-34 from the line at that point and the Wildcats were 13-for-27.

But Villanova made its last 13 free throws and finished 26-for-40 (65 percent), while the Red Storm were 22-for-40 (55 percent).

St. John's led only twice in the game, the last at 71-69 on two free throws by Hatten with 2:24 left. Wright tied it with two free throws 14 seconds later and the Wildcats were perfect the rest of the way as St. John's missed its last six of the game.

Villanova, which entered the game with a plus-10 rebound advantage outrebounded the Red Storm 50-31, 19-11 on the offensive end.

The Wildcats, who led by as many as 13 points in the first half and 39-33 at halftime, finished 6-for-10 from 3-point range, while the Red Storm were 5-for-20 with freshman guard Elijah Ingram missing all five of his attempts.

Hatten, who entered the game averaging 22.4 points, was 7-for-14 from the field and had nine rebounds and five assists, although he committed seven of St. John's 15 turnovers.