PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – A 50-point second half explosion lifted No. 15/16 Villanova to a 76-56 victory over Temple before a sold-out crowd of 10,506 at the Liacouras Center Sunday afternoon. The Wildcats were fueled by a 20-2 spurt in the early minutes of the second half that erased a 30-26 halftime deficit.
 
The Wildcats were 13-of-21 from beyond the arc in the second half (.619). Junior Collin Gillespie notched 29 points, one shy of his career high, to go with five assists. Classmate Jermaine Samuels added 13 points and seven boards.
 
The victory clinched the outright Philadelphia Big Five title for the Wildcats (19-6 overall, 4-0 Big Five). It is the 27^th City Series crown for the Wildcats and sixth in the last seven seasons.
 
"That was a great second half for us," stated head coach Jay Wright. "We just made shots. We haven't done that a lot. Any time that happens, a team is tough to beat. It started with our defensive effort in the second half. I was proud of that. It led to making shots."
 
A pair of 3-pointers from Gillespie helped Villanova claim an early 6-0 advantage. But Temple (13-12 overall, 2-2 Big Five) reeled off the next seven points and two Nova starters, freshmen Justin Moore and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, were whistled for two fouls apiece before the game was five minutes old.
 
The contest settled into a spirited defensive tussle befitting a local rivalry. After 14:56 of first half action, both teams were hovering near the 30 percent mark from the field. The 'Cats were 7-of-22 (.318) while Temple was 8-of-25 (.320). The contest was even at 20 with five minutes left in the first half.
 
"We've talked about being an inexperienced team but sometimes it's also about the coach not having a good feel," noted Wright. "We overcoached a little bit with those two out. We ran a lot of sets and bogging ourselves down. Temple was playing good defense too. We were making it easier for them to play good defense by going to certain guys. That was not smart on my part and they were very prepared for that."
 
The Owls got the lead back and ended the period with a Quinton Rose put-back score just before the horn sounded. That gave Temple a 30-26 lead at intermission. Gillespie led Nova with 15 points while Rose carried the scoring load for the Owls, with 14 points. Robinson-Earl was limited to 6:23 in the first half and Moore 3:59.
 
Villanova was just 9-of-27 from the field in the first half. Temple owned a 21-17 edge on the glass and held an 18-6 advantage in points scored in the paint over the first 20 minutes.
 
The Wildcats began the second half with a potent flurry. By the time it was done, Nova had put together a 20-2 surge that pushed the Wildcats out to a 46-32 lead with 14:14 to play. Nova was 5-of-7 from beyond the arc in that stretch with Jermaine Samuels and Moore both sinking a pair.
 
Temple scored the next six points to narrow the Nova lead to 46-38. Robinson-Earl and Samuels helped extend that margin to 56-45 with 6:54 on the clock.
 
Yet the Wildcats had another flurry in them, outscoring the Owls 20-11 the rest of the way en route to a 76-56 win.
 
Villanova won the battle of the boards by a final count of 40-31. The Wildcats improved to 14-0 this season when collecting more caroms than its opponent. Their 16 assists pushed their season mark to 15-2 when dishing out 14 or more helpers in a game.
 
The Wildcats return to BIG EAST action on Wednesday night in Chicago against DePaul. That contest at Wintrust Arena gets underway at 9 p.m. eastern time and airs on CBS Sports Network and 610 ESPN Radio.
 
The 2019-20 season – Villanova's 100^th college basketball campaign – is presented by Hartford Funds and Coca-Cola.