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Guards soar as Villanova rout Houston Baptist

Dec 5, 2008 - 6:41 AM VILLANOVA, Pennsylvania (Ticker) -- Scottie Reynolds found his scoring touch against a favorable late addition to the Villanova schedule.

Reynolds scored 23 points and Corey Stokes added a career-high 22 as No. 16 Villanova breezed to a 93-57 victory over Houston Baptist on Thursday.

Dante Cunningham added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats (8-0), who had all five starters reach double figures in scoring.

That balanced effort showed from the start, as four different players scored while Villanova surged to an 8-0 lead. It extended that advantage to 26-8 with 9:44 left when six different players contributed to a 15-0 burst.

Reynolds had four points and two assists on a late 12-0 run in the first half for the Wildcats, who led 48-22 at intermission. All five of their starters had eight points at the break.

Reynolds and Stokes took over after intermission, combining for 29 points as Villanova would go on to lead by 40.

It was a big win against a team that the Wildcats nearly did not play until some last-minute scheduling.

"We were calling people seeing if we could go on the road and play," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "But somebody called Houston Baptist and they had just lost a game (on their schedule), so we picked them up. This was really late, around September."

Finishing up 8-of-13 from the field with four 3-pointers, Reynolds went over 20 points for the first time this season. Last year, the junior guard had 10 games of 20 or more points.

He also had six assists against one turnover.

Meanwhile, Villanova forced Houston Baptist into 21 giveaways, and the Wildcats turned them into 33 points.

Stokes added six 3-pointers for the Wildcats, who finished 12-of-25 (48 percent) from the arc.

Baron Sauls scored 22 points for Houston Baptist (0-7), which was facing a ranked opponent for the second time.

Sauls was nearly perfect from the field as he continued a solid scoring streak, going 7-of-8 from the field and 6-of-6 on 3-pointers. The senior guard is averaging 21.3 points over his last three games.