VILLANOVA, Pa. – An explosive effort from freshman forward Cam Whitmore helped lift Villanova past Penn 70-59 in a Philadelphia Big Five men's basketball game played before a sold-out crowd of 6,501 Wednesday night at Finneran Pavilion. In just his second college game, Whitmore finished with 21 points and six rebounds in 23:52 of action.
 
Whitmore was joined in double figures by Caleb Daniels (12 points, five assists), Eric Dixon (12 points in 12:56) and Brandon Slater (10 points). Penn's Jordan Dingle led all scorers with 25 points.
 
"Penn, to their credit, is a really good offensive team," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune, whose two immediate predecessors as the Wildcats' leader, Steve Lappas and Jay Wright, were both courtside to serve as analysts for CBS Sports Network's national telecast.
 
"They pose so many threats all over the floor and Dingle was just special. To our guys' credit, we really locked in over the second part of the first half and early in the second half."
 
An early 6-2 edge on the glass helped Penn (5-7 overall, 0-3 Big Five) build a 7-3 lead over the first 4:18 on this Wednesday night. The Wildcats (4-5 overall, 2-1 Big Five) grabbed a brief 8-7 lead on a Dixon 3-pointer, but the Quakers used a 9-3 burst to claim a 16-11 edge midway through the period. Dixon also picked up his second foul, sending him to the sidelines after playing just five minutes.
 
An 11-0 Villanova run, highlighted by a pair of Whitmore 3-pointers, helped Villanova move out to a 28-20 lead with 3:52 on the first half clock. They would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
 
Fittingly, a Jordan Longino 3-ball served as the final points of the period, staking the Wildcats to a 36-26 halftime advantage. Villanova was 10-of-21 from deep in the half (.475) with six different 'Cats draining at least one. Conversely, Nova was just 1-of-5 (.200) from inside the arc. Meanwhile, VU limited Penn to 9-of-25 shooting from the field at the other end of the court.
 
Chris Arcidiacono, Whitmore, Brendan Hausen and Dixon each had six points for Villanova over the first 20 minutes. Max Martz led the Quakers with eight points.
 
Penn converted 3-of-4 field goals to open the second half and added three free throws to shave the 'Cats lead to 42-36 at the 15:22 mark. A Slater drive to the goal netted the 'Cats two points to push the lead back to eight as the contest dipped below the 15-minute mark.
 
The next few minutes became Whitmore time as the Wildcats' rookie, playing in just his second regular season game after missing seven weeks following right thumb surgery, reeled off 11 points. Among the highlights were a putback slam off an offensive rebound and another driving score.
 
"I'm still shocked that he can go out there and play at this level after having practiced 4-5 times before his first game," stated Neptune. "We've just been talking to him about playing hard, making sure he's giving us the effort, especially defensively. We know the talent he is offensively, and he'll figure that part of it out."
 
The Wildcats led 53-38 with 11:32 on the second half clock.
 
"They kind of changed their strategy in the second half," Neptune noted. "In the first half they kind of packed it in on us. In the second half, they pressed out on the shooters. That's OK. We're used to playing both ways and we'll take what the defense gives us."
 
Penn responded with a 7-0 run, however, to cut the Villanova margin to 53-45 with 8:36 to play in the period. The Wildcats went 6:18 without a field goal while Penn's Dingle made six straight field goals to pull the Quakers to within 61-54 with 4:58 to play in regulation.
 
"They made a run and one thing that is unique about this team, whether we are up or down, we never shaken," said Neptune. "We've learned that about this team early."
 
The Wildcats stemmed the tide at the line – Slater sank 6-of-7 and Daniels was 5-of-6 there – and then a Whitmore basket broke the field goal drought. The Wildcats went on to close out the win, their 18^th in the last 19 games with the Quakers.
 
Next up for the 'Cats is a trip up the New Jersey Turnpike to meet Boston College Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Never Forget Tribute Classic at the Prudential Center (Fox/Villanova Sports Radio Network).