PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The No. 23/23 Villanova Wildcats got a combined 61 points from Eric Paschall (27), Phil Booth (19) and Collin Gillespie (15) to hold off La Salle 85-78 Saturday in a Philadelphia Big Five game played before 6,522 at the Palestra.
 
The victory lifts Villanova to a 6-2 overall mark and extended their record streak of City Series wins to 23. La Salle, coached by former VU assistant Ashley Howard, fell to 0-8 on the season.
 
"This was a Big Five game, what else can you say?" stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "I know we'll have a lot of questions to answer about things we did poorly and things they did well. You have to give a lot of credit to Ash for having them play as hard as they did with two starters out. I told our guys before the game that wouldn't make a difference and it didn't."
 
"I don't know if some of our young guys were ready for this early. I think they got a good taste of it today. But to have two seniors like Eric and Phil who have been in games like this, is probably the difference in the game."
 
A Gillespie layup off the opening tip was followed by a Traci Carter 3-point goal for the Explorers. That sequence was followed by streamers flying out of the stands as was so often a given in the halcyon days of the Big Five (an NCAA rule change in the mid-1980s charged the home team with a technical foul if streamers came on to the court, effectively halting the practice).
 
La Salle's ability to sink 3-pointers helped it build a 32-20 lead with 5:30 to play in the first half after a Jack Clark triple. It was the Explorers' seventh 3-ball in the contest's first 14:30. The Explorers continued to hold the advantage at 42-30 with just under three minutes remaining in the period. A 7-0 run by VU – with all the points coming from Paschall and Booth – helped the Wildcats close to within 42-39 at the half.
 
"I thought that run at the end of the first half was really important," stated Wright. "Joe Cremo was big in that run. Not only did he come in and hit some 3's, but he created some shots for other guys and helped us defensively."
 
There was some discussion about La Salle's point total at intermission and the Wildcats' role in it.
 
"They had nine 3's at halftime," noted Wright. "One of those came at the end of the shot clock, another was banked in. We weren't that bad (defensively). In the second half we tightened it up a little bit."
 
The game remained tight through the first eight minutes of the second half. A 3-pointer by freshman Saddiq Bey tied the game at 54 and when Bey converted a free throw awarded to him on the play, Villanova moved in front at the 12:44 mark, 55-54.
 
La Salle never relented and closed the margin to one on three more occasions before the clock expired. But, thanks largely to the heroics of its two seniors, Booth and Paschall, Villanova prevailed.
 
 "Believe it or not, as many mistakes as we made, to come into an environment like this for us to keep grinding and find a way, is how you build (confidence)," said Wright. "We've got to keep that going."
 
   The Wildcats' Big Five stretch continues on Wednesday night when Temple visits the Finneran Pavilion at 8:30 p.m. (FS1 and 610 ESPN Radio). The Owls will be followed into the Finn by Saint Joseph's on Dec. 8 with a return trip to the Palestra, to face host Penn, on the calendar Dec. 11.