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No. 14 'Nova routs SJU in Philly's Holy War

Dec 8, 2013 - 2:53 AM Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - James Bell notched career-highs with 25 points and 14 rebounds and No. 14 Villanova defeated Saint Joseph's 98-68 on Saturday at Hagan Arena.

JayVaughn Pinkston led all scorers with 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting, Darrun Hilliard had 14 points and Ryan Arcidiacono scored 11 for Villanova (9-0).

Langston Galloway scored a team-high 18 points, DeAndre Bembry added 17 and Ronald Roberts had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Hawks (4-4), who trailed by only four at the half but were outscored 59-33 in the second half to lose their second straight game.

Villanova started the second half with an 8-0 run. Hilliard drained a 3- pointer 25 seconds in and after a tip-in from Bell, Pinkston hit a triple at 18:13 to make it 47-35.

Bembry got the crowd back into it with a dunk, but Bell hit a 3 to make it 50-38 at 17:02, sparking a 12-2 run that contained another 3 from Bell and a 3-point play from Pinkston at 14:18.

Bell scored all nine points for Villanova in a 9-2 run on two triples and three fouls shots to give the Wildcats an 86-60 lead with 5:48 remaining.

Villanova jumped out to an early 9-3 lead, but Bembry hit two 3-pointers to cut the Wildcats' lead down to three at 16:20. Chris Wilson attacked the rim and tied the game at 13 with a layup and Roberts made a nice play down low to give the Hawks the lead.

Pinkston made a layup and a free throw to get Villanova back within three, 23-20, at 8:10 and Arcidiacono tied the game with a 3 at 7:20. After a pair of free throws from Roberts, Galloway drained a shot from beyond the arc to give the Hawks a 28-23 lead at 6:35.

Following a block from Josh Hart on Daryus Quarles, Tony Chennault grabbed the rebound and passed to Hart, who tied the game at 30 on a layup with 4:13 remaining in the first half.

Hilliard made an off-balance layup and Kris Jenkins hit a wide-open 3 to give Villanova a 39-33 lead at with 30 seconds remaining. Galloway leaned forward to make an off-balance, buzzer-beating jumper for the Hawks to make it a 39-35 game going into the half.

Game Notes

Villanova is 19-2 since the start of last season when Bell scores in double figures ... The Wildcats scored a season-high in points ... Saint Joseph's has now dropped two straight Big 5 games, losing 77-69 to Temple on Wednesday ... The Hawks turned the ball over 11 times compared to the Wildcats' five giveaways ... The last time Villanova started the season 9-0 was in 2009-10.