By Sean Kennedy
Action Over the Holiday:
Saint Joseph’s 71, Binghamton 44
St. Joe’s must have wanted to get their New Year’s Eve festivities Tuesday afternoon, wasting no time jumping out on the Bearcats in a rout where the Hawks led by as many as 37 points. The Hawks went on an early 14-0 run to extend their lead to 28-6 with about 8 minutes left in the first half, basically putting the game away the way Binghamton was shooting the ball. The Bearcats scored just 15 points in the first half, and finished the game just 15-52 from the field (28.8%).
Conversely, St. Joe’s were ton fire throughout the game, shooting 50% from the field and a scorching 14-26 (53.8%) from behind the arc. Langston Galloway paved the way for the Hawks, hitting 6 of 9 threes for a game-high 20 points. The Hawks have shot at least 45% from the field in each game during their now 4-game winning streak. They’ll look to keep the hot shooting going when they play Denver this Saturday before entering their A-10 schedule.
Villanova 76, Butler 73 (OT)
The Wildcats made Nova Nation wait 5 extra minutes to pop the champagne on New Year’s Eve, but eventually prevailed in overtime over Butler to avoid their first two-game losing streak of the season. After having his worst game of the season Saturday against Syracuse, JayVaughn Pinkston bounced back with a team-high 22 points, in addition to 3 blocks as he anchored the smaller lineup coach Jay Wright employed the majority of the game against the Bulldogs. Pinkston did saw his potential game-winning shot in the lane bounce off the rim at the end of regulation, but had 4 of the Wildcats’ 10 points in overtime, including two free throws to stretch the lead to three during a wild sequence in the closing seconds.
After a closely-fought first half that saw neither team lead by more than four points, Villanova jumped out to a 9-point lead early in the second half. However, Butler climbed right back into the game on the strength of their three-point shooting. The Bulldogs sank 10 threes in the evening, led by freshman Elijah Brown who sank 4 of his 7 attempts behind the arc to help him to a career-high 19 points. With Khyle Marshall limited by foul trouble and leading scorer Kellen Dunham shooting just 7-18 (albeit for 22 points), though, the Wildcats were able to continually stay just ahead of the Bulldogs despite those timely threes. Having begun their Big East schedule with a ‘W’, Villanova will next host Providence this weekend.
Rutgers 71, Temple 66
Playing their inaugural American Athletic Conference contest on New Year’s Day, Temple went ice-cold down the stretch to let the Scarlet Knights pull away for the victory. The scoring was extremely odd for the Owls throughout the game. Quenton DeCosey was practically the only Owl who could score for the first 30 minutes of the game; he made his first 6 three-point attempts and finished with a game and career-high 25 minutes. Then, with 10 minutes left in the game, Dalton Pepper, who hadn’t scored up to that point, caught fire and scored 19 straight points for Temple over the course of about 6 minutes. Pepper’s surge brought the Owls neck and neck once again with Rutgers, but neither he, DeCosey, or anyone else could do a thing in the final minutes as Temple only scored 2 points in the final 3:30 of the game as the Scarlet Knights claimed victory.
Dan Dingle was not in the starting lineup for Temple as he tore the meniscus in his right knee at practice and is likely out for the year. Mark Williams got the start in his stead and had the strange stat line of collecting 7 rebounds, all on the offensive end. Although Dingle didn’t have a huge impact statistically for the Owls, his loss only further exacerbates the lack of quality depth on the roster for Temple. They’ll look to figure things out as they continue conference play at UCF this Saturday.
Today’s Action
7:30 PM: Pennsylvania (2-8, 0-0 Ivy) @ George Mason (6-6, 0-0 A-10)
Penn looked as though they were going to end their long losing streak in their last contest against Rider, only to lose a double-digit second half lead and fall in the final minute. The Quakers will attempt to get back in the win column against a Patriots team that just snapped a long losing streak of their own. After starting the season 4-0, George Mason dropped 6 of 7 games before defeating St. Maty’s on Christmas Day. The one constant for the Patriots throughout the season has been a stout defense, helped greatly by the 6th-best three-point defense in the nation.
While offering a strong defensive front, George Mason has struggled greatly on the offensive side of the ball. Senior guard Sherrod Wright leads the team at 13.5 ppg, but has shot just 41.5% from the field and 27.6% from three, while the team as a whole has shot just 42.9%. Still, Penn has been just as ineffective scoring the ball, and don’t offer the defensive prowess of George Mason. Chances are the losing streak reaches 6 games for the Quakers.
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