By Sean Kennedy
Yesterday’s Action
Lafayette 79, Pennsylvania 76
A last-second three-point try from Tony Hicks was off the mark, and the Quakers came up just short against Lafayette, handing the Leopards their first victory of the season. Fran Dougherty bullied the small Lafayette frontcourt for a season-high 26 points and 9 rebounds, but he was outdone by Leopards star Seth Hinrichs, who scored a game-high 28 points behind 6-10 shooting from downtown. Lafayette made 12 threes in all as a team, as their perimeter sharp-shooting and sloppy ball control from the Quakers kept them in the game in spite of over 50.0% shooting from Penn themselves.
The loss was the most disappointing of the year for the Quakers and not the way they wanted to go into their huge City 6 contest against Villanova on Wednesday. Especially in light of how well the Wildcats are playing at the moment.
Villanova 88, Iowa 83 (OT)
For the second-straight night, Villanova used some clutch outside shooting to overcome a difficult, ranked opponent, winning the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the process. Coming off his late-game heroics against Kansas, Ryan Arcidiacono came off the bench against Iowa, with the change seemingly doing him good as he finished 4-9 from behind the arc for 13 points. The Wildcats sophomore once again stepped up when his team needed him most, sinking two threes in the last 90 seconds of regulation to help send the game to overtime.
In the extra frame, consecutive threes from Kris Jenkins and Dylan Ennis helped the Wildcats build a lead, which they held the rest of the way to prevail and move to 7-0 on the season. Not only did Villanova have their outside shooting game working, but they actually dominated the rebounding battle against an Iowa squad that excels in that area. The Wildcats proved they can win games in a variety of ways, and after defeating Kansas and Iowa in back-to-back games, there doesn’t seem to be any team too difficult a challenge for Villanova.
Today’s Action
12:00 PM: Saint Joseph’s (3-2, 0-0 A-10) vs. Washington State (3-3, 0-0 Pac-12) [neutral site]
In their final Old Spice Classic contest, the Hawks will play a Sunday matinee against Washington State (no word on whether the Cougars flag will make it from College Football GameDay to Orlando). The Cougars handily defeated Purdue on Friday to snap a three-game losing streak that included losses to Gonzaga and Butler. Washington State has struggled on the offensive end, shooting just 42.5% from the field this season, and in the bottom half of the nation in assists per game.
Junior guard DaVonte Lacy carries the load for Washington State on the offensive end, averaging 20.5 ppg (the only Cougar in double figures) behind 39.3% three-point shooting. We saw against Creighton that the Hawks have the capability to slow down a one-man show from the opposition. The Hawks’ Langston Galloway had his best game of the season Friday against Siena and will look to carry over that performance here to supplement the consistent production of Ronald Roberts, Jr. I anticipate a St. Joe’s victory here to end their Orlando journey on a positive note.
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