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ALLENTOWN, Pa ââ'¬" In Villanova Basketball's second visit to the Lehigh Valley, two of its captains showed the way. Juniors Mikal Bridges (24 points) and Jalen Brunson (22 points) combined to convert 18 of 21 field goal attempts and helped lift the Wildcats past Lafayette 104-57 at PPL Center here on Friday night.

Bridges connected on 9-of-10 from the field and was perfect from beyond the 3-point arc ââ'¬" dropping in all six he attempted. His fellow captain, Brunson, was only slightly less efficient, sinking 9-of-11 on the night, including 4-of-6 from long range.

"This was a great atmosphere and we want to thank everyone in Allentown," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright as the Wildcats improved to 3-0 overall while Lafayette fell to 0-3.

"That score is not indicative of how hard it is to play that team. I thought our guys played really hard. Lafayette has some good young players and I know a couple of guys were hurt. They're going to be a good team."

Bridges helped the Wildcats get off to a fast start with 17 points in the first 20 minutes Tuesday night against Nicholls. The Malvern, Pa., native picked up right where he left off here, draining eight early points as the Wildcats crafted a 13-5 lead at the 15:54 mark of the first period.

The sharp shooting didn't end there. The Wildcats converted 10-of-12 from the field over the first 8:10, including 8-of-10 from beyond the 3-point arc against the Lafayette 2-3 zone defense. That added up to a 28-12 advantage at the second official time out of the night.

"Early we hit so many three's and you know that can be back-breaking to a team," Wright said. "You worry that if you fall in love with that and then stop making them, we're going to be in trouble. I think hitting 3's like that early in the game makes a big difference in how you shoot them the rest of the game."

By the time halftime arrived, the Wildcats were out to a 56-23 advantage. Captains Bridges, Phil Booth, and Jalen Brunson were a combined 13-of-15 from the field, including 10-of-12 from long distance, for 36 of those points. Bridges set the individual scoring pace with 16 points while Omari Spellman's six rebounds were tops on the court.

The Wildcats connected on 20-of-32 first half field goal attempts (.625) and were 12-of-19 from beyond the 3-point arc (.632). The only blemish on the stat sheet were nine turnovers but that was offset by a defensive effort that limited Lafayette to 10-of-29 shooting from the field in the first 20 minutes (.345).

The first 5:38 of the second half didn't look much different than the early minutes of the first half. Villanova was 7-of-9 from the field with nine of those points coming from Brunson. It was 74-35 at the 14:22 mark of the second half.

"Our guys did a good job ââ'¬" I thought it was a good team effort," stated Wright. "All 10 guys brought great energy."

The Wildcats are idle until next Wednesday when they square off against Western Kentucky in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. That is the first of three games in three days at the Atlantis resort. VU faces either Purdue or Tennessee in the second round on Thanksgiving.

The 2017-18 Villanova Basketball season is presented by KeyBank.