Wildcat Wrap
 
Final Score: St. John's 70, Wildcats 50
 
Overview: The Red Storm used a 13-2 burst midway through the first half to take control, building a 32-22 halftime lead. The Wildcats whittled that deficit to 40-35 midway through the second half before St. John's closed the game on a 30- 15 run to cement its victory.
 
Storm Built a Lead Early: TJ Bamba scored on each of Villanova's first two possessions, but the Red Storm used a 5-2 rebounding advantage to claim a 7-4 lead through the first 4:15 of action before a boisterous crowd at Madison Square Garden. The advantage grew to 13-7 before some good work from Eric Dixon at the offensive end – five points in the first 8:50 – cut the gap to 13-11.
 
An 8-0 St. John's spurt out of the U12 media timeout  over just 1:16 – fueled by a pair of 3-pointers and a steal in the backcourt – upped the advantage to 21-11 at the midpoint of the first half. A Jordan Longino basket ended the Red Storm run. However, another 5-0 burst moved the lead to 26-13 at the 7:09 mark of the first half.
 
At that point in the contest St. John's enjoyed an 11-0 edge in points off turnovers.
 
"I thought St. John's came out and set the tone," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "They played extremely hard, got in us, threw the first punch and we never recovered."
 
A 7-0 burst by the Wildcats narrowed their deficit to 28-20 with 3:48 left until halftime. St. John's held a 32-22 lead at halftime.
 
Looking for a groove: While its defense held firm over the final 10 minutes, the Wildcats could not get into a flow at the other end. Villanova was 8-of-22 from the field in the first half (.364), including 2-of-13 from beyond the 3-point arc (.154).
 
St. John's, meanwhile, was 14-of-30 overall and 4-of-11 from distance to account for the majority of their 10-point cushion.
 
After Intermission: Four points by Dixon and some solid defense helped Villanova shave the lead to 36-28 after 4:07 of second half action. Villanova kept chipping away and clawed to within 40-35 after Brendan Hausen found Hakim Hart underneath the basket at the 12:46 mark of the period.
 
Joel Soriano, however, asserted himself at the offensive end, scoring five straight points at one point to extend the Red Storm advantage to 52-39 with 6:54 to play in the second half. He finished with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field.
 
The Wildcats were unable to solve the Red Storm at the defensive end. St. John's forced 11 Nova turnovers that led to an 18-7 edge in points off turnovers. The Red Storm lead expanded to 59-42 at the final official timeout of the night.
 
Board Scores: One other key indicator was found in the rebounding column. The Red Storm entered as one of the BIG EAST's top rebounding units and they lived up to the stat sheet, owning a 42-23 edge in that department.
 
"To me, rebounding and turnovers were the difference in the game," said Neptune. "Those are things they do very well. They executed what they do very well."
 
What They Said: Neptune: "They got timely offensive rebounds. They were physical with us and that set a tone. They played their game better than we played ours."
 
"We got some shots. But, either way, you think about turnovers and offensive rebounds. If you take care of that, it could have been a different outcome."