In a reversal from Saturday’s game where the ‘Cats started hot and built a big lead before holding on for the win, Tuesday against St. John’s it looked like the Red Storm would run away from Villanova. Fortunately, the Wildcats were able to respond and earned a hard-fought win over the 24th-ranked Johnnies.

St. John’s blitzed ‘Nova from the opening tip, opening up a 12-point lead in less than four minutes of action. The combination of hot shooting from the Red Storm (six of their first nine from 3) and some early turnovers from the ‘Cats put Villanova at an early disadvantage.

Eventually the Wildcats settled in and went to work erasing the deficit. By the under eight timeout they had cut the lead to two. St. John’s responded with an 8-0 spurt to run the advantage back to 10, but ‘Nova was able to fight back and get the deficit to five at halftime.

Four quick points to start the half for the Johnnies restored the lead to nine, and it was up to 11 with just over 17 minutes to go. ‘Nova responded with a 12-0 run, taking its first lead with 14:27 left to play. St. John’s answered back with a 9-0 spurt, and just like that Villanova was down eight again at the 10:30 mark.

It was starting to feel like the ‘Cats just wouldn’t have enough to overtake St. John’s on this night. But ‘Nova wouldn’t quit and got back within one with 7:07 to play before pulling even at the 5:17 mark. Five-straight points from St. John’s put the Red Storm in the driver’s seat with just over four minutes left, but consecutive 3-pointers from Phil Booth put the ‘Cats up one with 2:36 left.

From there Villanova didn’t look back, with Jermaine Samuels and Saddiq Bey hitting some key free throws to help put the game away, and the ‘Cats got out with a 76-71 win.

Eric Paschall and Phil Booth were fantastic for Villanova. Paschall finished with 25 points on 8-14 shooting and 3-5 from 3 while adding eight rebounds. Booth had 23 points on 8-16 from the floor and 6-11 from deep, adding seven rebounds and four assists.

As mentioned, Samuels and Bey made some big plays for Villanova down the stretch, and Jahvon Quinerly gave some nice minutes one again.

I don’t think we can overstate the importance of this win. The ‘Cats now have another win against a ranked opponent, which will be huge in March when they will likely be jockeying for seeding. The win moves ‘Nova to 3-0 in the Big East, the only remaining unbeaten team in conference play, and puts it a game and a half clear of everyone except Seton Hall. With the conference race expected to be wide open, it’s great to see the ‘Cats working from the pole position early. It’s also the type of win that can do wonders for a team’s mentality and confidence. The fact that ‘Nova fought through a hot start from the opponent and battled back from multiple deficits and kept coming despite St. John’s continuing to answer every ‘Nova push is as impressive as it is encouraging.

The ‘Cats will try to keep it going when they travel to Creighton on Sunday.