VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova built a 20-point halftime lead and then held off La Salle's bid for a second half comeback to post an 83-72 victory in a Philadelphia Big Five clash played Sunday night at Finneran Pavilion. The Wildcats are now 5-2 overall, 1-0 Big Five while the Explorers fell to 4-3 overall, 0-3 in the Big Five.
 
Freshman guard Justin Moore supplied a season-high 25 points to lead the Wildcats. Sophomore Saddiq Bey added 19 points and 10 rebounds while junior Collin Gillespie contributed 14 points, three assists and zero turnovers in 32:12 of action.
 
Ed Croswell led La Salle with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
 
"That was a typical Big Five game," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright, who faced his former assistant coach Ashley Howard for the second time tonight. "I thought we played a good first half and they just came out and really took it to us in the second half. We hung on.
 
"With these Big Five games, you just try to survive them. It's never pretty. You just try to survive and that's what that was."
 
La Salle forced 14 second half turnovers and 20 for the contest.
 
The Explorers scored the first five points of the night before a Collin Gillespie 3-pointer gave the Wildcats their first points. Moore – who was replaced in the starting lineup tonight by Cole Swider - supplied four quick points to help pull Nova even at seven at the 15:37 mark of the first half.
 
"I thought Cole did a good job getting us off to a good start," stated Wright. "He's dialed into the scouting report, he's got some experience. It's all new to Justin. But Justin did a great job. I thought he gave us great energy and Cole got some fouls.
 
"That's the kind of team we're going to be. We're going to need everybody."
 
La Salle dropped in 3-pointers on consecutive possessions before another surge by Moore pushed the Wildcats in front. A 10-1 spurt was capped by a Cole Swider 3-pointer from the right wing to give Villanova its first lead at 17-14 after 8:10 of the first half.
 
The Wildcats were able to create some separation with another first half burst, this one 12-0 that was fueled by defense. Villanova held La Salle scoreless for a stretch of 4:47 and expanded its margin to 38-20 before an Isiah Deas basket ended the run with just more than three minutes to play in the period.
 
When the game reached halftime, Villanova's lead was 48-28. Thirty five of those points were provided by first or second year players, led by 15 from Moore. After sinking just 6-of-15 to open the half, the Wildcats closed the period by converting 9-of-14 from the floor.
 
"I thought we did a lot of good things in the first half," noted Wright. "The defense was good, communication and attention to detail on our scouting report was good."
 
The 'Cats cooled off to begin the second half, connecting on 1-of-7 over the first 6:55 of the period to go with six turnovers. Meanwhile, the Explorers got their offense rolling with a 10-0 run and were back to within 50-40 after a David Beatty dunk.
 
A Moore 3-pointer at 11:48 broke the scoring drought and Bey soon followed with a triple of his own to help push the lead to 57-42. Yet the Explorers kept pushing and were back to within 67-56 at the 4:59 mark.
 
Villanova, though, got just enough offense to outlast the Explorers.
 
"They just did a better job at halftime with their adjustments and we didn't respond very well," said Wright. "That's part of being a young team. This was the first Big Five game for some of these guys. We've got another tough one coming up Wednesday."
 
Villanova hosts Big Five rival Penn Wednesday night at the Finn (6:30 p.m./FS1 and 610 ESPN Radio). The Quakers snapped the Wildcats' 25-game City Series winning streak with a 78-75 win last season at the Palestra. Fans interested in attending the Men's Basketball game vs Penn please visit Vivid Seats, our Official Resale Marketplace. Tickets are available here.
 
The 2019-20 season – Villanova's 100^th college basketball campaign – is presented by Hartford Funds and Coca-Cola.