Dec. 14, 2008
Recap | Box Score
BIG FIVE RECORD
Villanova has won 17 of its last 18 games against Philadelphia Big Five opponents and won its third straight City Series game this season. The Wildcats had a record 14-game Big Five winning streak snapped last season in a 77-55 loss to Saint Joseph's at The Palestra on February 4, 2008. Villanova will play one more Big Five game this season, against Temple at The Pavilion on December 29. A victory in that game would give the Wildcats their ninth outright Big Five title, including the third in the last four years.
PLAYING IN PHILLY
Of the 11 games Villanova has played this season, 10 have come either at home in The Pavilion or at a venue in Philadelphia. The Wildcats are 10-0 in these games and have won 11 straight in the Philadelphia area. The streak includes last season's win over South Florida in the final home game of the regular season. Villanova has not been beaten in the Philadelphia region since an 85-75 loss to Marquette last season on February 25, 2008.
VILLANOVA-LA SALLE SERIES NOTES
With the win in tonight's game, Villanova improves to 33-25 all-time against La Salle and records its seventh straight win in the series. The Wildcats were making their second appearance ever at Tom Gola Arena and are now 2-0 in the building. The last win for La Salle in the series came at The Pavilion on November 28, 2001, by a 61-58 score in overtime. That was Jay Wright's first season as head coach of the Wildcats. The seven-game win streak by Villanova is the longest by any team in the series, which dates back to 1934.
STREAK ENDS FOR CUNNINGHAM
Senior forward Dante Cunningham scored a season-low nine points in tonight's game and was held to single digits for the first time all year. Cunningham had scored in double figures in 12 straight games, including the first 10 games of this season and the final two games of the 2007-08 campaign. Villanova is 32-9 in Cunningham's career when he scores at least 10 points.
DANTE'S DEFENSE
A low point total did not stop senior forward Dante Cunningham from an excellent all-around game thanks to his strong defensive play. Cunningham matched his career high with four blocked shots and also tied a season high with four steals. The previous time that Cunningham had four blocks was also against La Salle and came on December 22, 2005 in a 98-57 win for the Wildcats. He previously had four steals this season in a 93-57 win over Houston Baptist.
GAME OF RUNS
In the first half of tonight's game, Villanova and La Salle traded a series of runs that eventually swung the score permanently in the Wildcats favor. After six straight points by the Wildcats gave Villanova a 16-10 lead, the Explorers scored the next eight points and led 18-16. The answer to that spurt was a dominant run by the Wildcats, who went on a 20-1 streak that gave Villanova a 36-19 advantage with 4:15 left in the opening period. The Wildcats went 8-for-10 from the field during the run and sophomore guard Corey Stokes had 11 points as La Salle went more than six minutes without a field goal. The Explorers, however, scored the last seven points of the half to cut their deficit to 36-26 at halftime.
In the second half, the Wildcats maintained their lead between 11-19 points for all but a span of six seconds. La Salle pulled to within nine points, 68-59, with 22 seconds to play before a pair of free throws by senior forward Frank Tchuisi restored the double digit margin.
STOKES HEATS UP
Sophomore guard Corey Stokes played a key role in tonight's game and scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half. The 18 points matched the second-highest scoring output of the season for Stokes, who finished the evening 6-of-10 from the floor, including 4-of-7 three-pointers, and 2-of-2 at the foul line.
HELPING HANDS
Villanova registered an assist on 20 of its 27 field goals in tonight's contest and at the same time committed a season-low eight turnovers. The 20 helpers were the second most for the Wildcats this season. Sophomore guard Corey Fisher had a season-high six assists and sophomore forward Antonio Pena doubled his previous career high to also have six assists in the game.
FISHER AT THE POINT
Sophomore guard Corey Fisher had a season-high six assists while committing just one turnover in 26 minutes for Villanova in tonight's game. Fisher has been doing an effective job controlling the ball this year. In 11 games, the second-year backcourt player has a 1.39 assist-to-turnover ratio (36 assists, 22 turnovers).
