NEW YORK, N.Y. – A 19-5 surge over the final minutes helped Villanova rally past St. John's 57-49 in a BIG EAST basketball game played Friday night at Madison Square Garden. Graduate student Brandon Slater – plagued by first half foul trouble – scored all 14 of his points after intermission to carry Nova (10-10 overall, 4-5 BIG EAST) to its second league win this week, having edged Georgetown 77-73 on Monday.
 
Caleb Daniels led Villanova with 16 points. The Wildcats forced 17 St. John's turnovers and limited the Red Storm to .321 shooting for the night.
 
"We're a young team," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune, who posted a win not far from his hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y. "I thought last game we found a way when we didn't necessarily play our best. That was a huge step for us.
 
"In this game, from start to finish, we were really good defensively. That's really what we ask our guys to do, to lock in defensively and just bring it. Win, lose, or draw, if we play like that defensively, we'll be proud of our guys."
 
Chris Arcidiacono opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, but St. John's held the 'Cats without a field goal over the next 6:08, building a 6-3 edge in the process. A corner 3-pointer by Daniels snapped the spell and tied the game at six with just more than 13 minutes to play in the first half.
 
Cam Whitmore followed with another triple and the 'Cats were up 9-6.
 
Both teams leaned on stingy defense through the middle part of the period. Villanova forced seven Red Storm turnovers in the first 12 minutes while the Wildcats also committed seven of their own. St. John's connected on 5-of-15 from the field in that span (.333) while Nova was 3-of-16 (.186) in that same stretch.
 
The game was tied at 12 with eight minutes left in the period.
 
Two more Arcidiacono triples and one from Daniels helped Villanova push its way to a 23-22 lead with 3:45 to play in the first half. Five points from Daniels in the final two minutes gave VU a 28-26 lead before a pair of Red Storm free throws with 0.8 seconds to play in the period tied the contest at 28 at halftime.
 
Daniels paced Villanova with 11 first half points while Dylan Addae-Wusu led St. John's with 10 points. The Cats connected on .346 of their first half attempts while the Red Storm was 9-of-29 (.310).
 
Joel Soriano scored the first four points of the second half to put the Red Storm up 32-28 before a Brandon Slater jumper closed the gap to 32-30. Two Slater free throws after one by Soriano got the Wildcats to within 33-32 at the 16 minute mark in the second half. However, Slater also picked up his third foul just before the official timeout as well.
 
The Red Storm's defense slowed Villanova, allowing it to build a 39-35 advantage with 11:35 to play. The Wildcats were limited to 2-of-11 shooting from the field over the first 8:25 of the half, while St. John's was 5-of-11.
 
With St. John's leading, a driving score by Slater became a traditional 3-point play to narrow the gap to 41-38. AJ Storr sank a 3-pointer to get the lead to 44-38. A Mark Armstrong runner pulled VU to within 44-42. After a St. John's bucket, another traditional 3-point play by Slater got the Cats within 46-45 as the clock dipped below the five minute mark.
 
Then came the Wildcats putting on the clamps over the final minutes and generating just enough offense to earn the win.
 
A short turnaround jumper by Eric Dixon put Villanova on top, 47-46. Two defensive stops and a pair of free throws by Daniels gave the 'Cats a 49-46 lead as the contest dipped below three minutes on the clock. Another short Armstrong jumper made it 51-46. In all, it was a 9-0 run by VU before a Soriano put-back snapped the run.
 
But a Slater slam nudged the lead to 54-49 and the 'Cats finished off this win.
 
"I thought at times you could see guys gassed and I think in the past maybe we would have given in a little bit," noted Neptune. "We didn't tonight. Our guys fought through it."
 
Dixon led Villanova with 11 rebounds..
 
This marked Villanova's 20^th regular season contest, and the Wildcats will receive a bit of breather following Friday night's action. The Wildcats have their bye next week and don't return to BIG EAST competition until Sunday, Jan., 29 when they host Providence at the Wells Fargo Center (noon on FS1 and the Villanova Sports Network).