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Connecticut's Doug Wiggins, left, defends as Villanova's Scottie Reynolds moves the ball up court in the second half of a basketball college game, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008, in Philadelphia.. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr) |
PHILADELPHIA—Corey Stokes and Scottie Reynolds both scored 18 points and Villanova beat No. 13 Connecticut 67-65 on Saturday, snapping the Huskies' 10-game winning streak.
Antonio Pena added 10 points for the Wildcats (17-9, 7-7 Big East), who won their third straight game and put themselves back in contention for a possible at-large berth to the NCAA tournament.
A.J. Price scored 16 points and Jeff Adrien had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Connecticut (21-6, 10-4), which hadn't lost since Jan. 17 when it fell 77-65 to Providence. The Huskies had won eight consecutive conference games since that loss.
Stanley Robinson contributed 15 points and Hasheem Thabeet had eight points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots for the Huskies.
Villanova went ahead 66-62 on a driving layup by Reynolds over the outstretched arms of the 7-foot-3 Thabeet with 39 seconds remaining.
The Huskies had a chance to tie the game, but Price, a 75 percent free throw shooter, made one of from the line with 6.4 seconds left to make it 66-65.
Villanova's Dante Cunningham was fouled with 4.9 seconds to go, and he missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity. However, Pena tipped the rebound back to Cunningham, who was fouled again with 2.3 seconds remaining.
Cunningham hit the first free throw and missed the second to make it 67-65.
Price'ss heave from 70 feet landed way off the mark and the raucous crowd at the
It was Villanova's 18th game against a ranked opponent since it began playing at the arena in 1996-97 and the Wildcats are 7-11 in those games.
Villanova took a 14-2 lead and led 33-18 when Shane Clark converted two free throws with 3:29 remaining in the first half.
But the Huskies responded with a 9-0 run to close the half -- five points by Price and four by Robinson -- to get within 33-27.
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