HARTFORD, Conn. – Over the course of 35 games, the Villanova Wildcats have grown accustomed to gritty battles. They battled through three of that ilk to earn the 2019 BIG EAST Tournament presented by Jeep championship last week in New York City and earned another one Thursday night here.
 
Down to No. 11 seed St. Mary's 30-28 at halftime, Villanova used a 12-3 surge at the start of the second half to gain some breathing room and then held off every Gaels' charge over the final 16 minutes. The No. 6 seed Wildcats downed St. Mary's 61-57 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
Senior guard Phil Booth – who set a new Villanova record for games played as a Wildcat (147) - led the way with 20 points and six assists. Fellow captain Eric Paschall added 14 points and six rebounds while sophomore Jermaine Samuels provided 12 points and seven caroms. Villanova (26-9 overall, 13-5 BIGEAST) limited the Gaels to .419 shooting on the night and did just enough offensively to claim their sixth straight win in the round of 64.
 
"We have to give a lot of credit to St. Mary's," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "That's a very skilled and intelligent team that just knocked off the No. 1 team in America. They have a style they play and you can't really speed them up. I'm proud of our guys for grinding through it."
 
The Wildcats connected on their first three attempts from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers from Samuels and freshman Saddiq Bey, and built an 8-2 advantage over the game's first three minutes. But the Gaels (22-13 overall, 11-5 WCC) bounced back with an 11-3 burst to claim the lead at 13-11 as the game approached the midpoint of the first half.
 
By that juncture, the XL Center had finally begin to fill. Though this was a sellout, the fact that the afternoon session didn't end until nearly 7 p.m. meant the building didn't open to the evening session until approximately 7:30 for a 7:45 p.m. tipoff.
 
Paschall and Booth both got on the scoresheet shortly thereafter and brought the Wildcats back to the lead. St. Mary's kept it tight by converting on 4-of-10 from beyond the 3-point arc in the contest's first 16 minutes.
 
The game was deadlocked at 25 as the clock dipped under the four minute mark of the first half.
 
St. Mary's got baskets late in the shot clock on consecutive possessions that were sandwiched around another 3-pointer from Samuels. That made the count 30-28 in favor of the Gaels at halftime.
 
There wasn't much to separate the two teams at intermission on the scoreboard or on the statistics sheet. The Gaels held a 17-13 edge on the backboards and converted five 3-pointers to four for the Wildcats.
 
Villanova used a 12-3 rush to open the second half to grab a 40-33 lead after 3:34 of the period. Defense was at the root of it all, with a blocked shot by Samuels and Booth steal serving as key plays. A slam in transition from Samuels capped the run and St. Mary's signaled for a timeout.
 
"We did a good job of playing team defense in the second half," noted Paschall.
 
After the flurry of points at the start of the period, though, the tenor shifted back to resemble the gritty defensive battle the first 20 minutes had been. Each team endured scoring droughts as the battles waged in the half-court made open looks hard to muster. The Wildcats held a 47-42 lead with 7:47 on the clock.
 
St. Mary's closed to within 50-47 on a long 3-pointer by Tommy Kuhse before Booth came right back with one for VU, this one banked in. A Jordan Hunter scored shaved the lead to 53-49 before Booth sank a pair of free throws at the 3:45 mark of the period.
 
The lead grew to 59-51 after a Samuels score with just over a minute to play in the contest. St. Mary's narrowed its deficit to 61-57 with just more than 22 seconds left and gained possession after Paschall failed to convert the front end of a one and one free throw attempt. But Villanova got stops on consecutive possessions and was able to put this one into the win column.
 
"I would much rather a 20 point win," noted Wright. "That would have been much nicer. But it is good to play a game like this in the NCAA Tournament.
 
"You play in Madison Square Garden last week and there's crazy energy. Then you walk in tonight and there's no one here. You've got 18-to-22 year old kids so you do worry about that. This is the NCAA Tournament and that's part of it. I was really proud of our guys and I give St. Mary's credit too because that game was played at a high level from the start."
 
Tickets for Saturday's Round of 32 matchup are available through Villanova Athletics official resale marketplace, Vivid Seats. Purchase tickets here!