West Virginia Stops Villanova

After watching No. 3 Villanova make one open jump shot after another, No. 24 West Virginia turned up its defensive pressure to knock the host Wildcats from the unbeaten ranks Sunday.

The Mountaineers rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit, thanks to 22 turnovers by Villanova, to defeat the Wildcats, 91-87, in front of a standing-room- only crowd of 6,500 at the Pavilion.

“In the first half, they kept getting free and getting open shots, but after halftime, we just kept the heat on them so they weren’t free to shoot the ball like they like,” West Virginia point guard J.D. Collins said.

“We stayed in their face and they became hesitant in shooting it.... They started trying to penetrate, and we were not afraid to step in and take charges.”

Villanova, 10-1 overall, 1-1 Big East Conference, made 71.4% of its shots in the first half, including 10 of 13 from beyond the three-point line. The only player to miss a shot for the Wildcats, who led 46-37 at halftime, was senior Randy Foye, who missed six of eight attempts while his teammates made all 13 of their shots over the first 20 minutes.

The Wildcats extended their lead to 52-37 early in the second half before West Virginia’s defense began to take hold. The open looks Villanova enjoyed in the first half as a result of making the extra pass turned into turnovers and forced attempts in traffic.

“Once we started to get to them, they started having four guys stand around while one guy would drive to the basket with the ball,” said West Virginia guard Mike Gansey, who scored 21 points and was four for four on three-pointers.

West Virginia (10-3, 2-0), which did not shoot a free throw in the first half but was 14 for 19 in the second, got a big lift from senior Kevin Pittsnogle, who scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half.

“We don’t have the quickest or highest-jumping team around,” West Virginia Coach John Beilein said. “When we beat teams, people think it’s a fluke, but it’s not.”

Senior Joe Herber also had a strong game, with 23 points and eight assists for the Mountaineers. Foye led Villanova with 24 points.

-- Lonnie White

No. 1 Duke 82, No. 23 Wake Forest 64 -- J.J. Redick had plenty of help, even if he appeared to be a one-man team at times at Winston-Salem, N.C. He scored 32 points to help the Blue Devils (14-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) hold off the Demon Deacons (11-3, 0-1), leaving them one of only three unbeaten teams in Division I.

Duke played much of the game without star center Shelden Williams. He picked up his third foul with about five minutes left in the first half, then got his fourth soon after the break.

Williams played only 17 minutes but hardly was missed, thanks mostly to Redick, who finished 12 for 21 from the field, including five for 13 from beyond the three-point line.

No. 4 Memphis 73, Winthrop 63 -- After the Eagles (7-4) pulled to within 66-60 with three minutes left at Memphis, Tenn., Darius Washington made five free throws and added a layup with 17 seconds left to clinch the win for the Tigers (13-2).

Wisconsin 82, No. 7 Michigan State 63 -- With the victory at Madison, Wis., the Badgers (12-2, 2-0) are one of only three Big Ten teams to survive the first week of conference play undefeated -- Indiana and Northwestern are the others.

Shannon Brown scored 31 points for Michigan State (12-4, 0-2), but the Badgers held the Spartans’ other two scoring threats -- Maurice Ager and Paul Davis -- in check. Ager, their leading scorer, was held to 11 points. Davis had two points.

Georgia Tech 60, No. 11 Boston College 58 -- Zam Fredrick made a tiebreaking three-point basket with 33 seconds left at Atlanta, and the Yellow Jackets (8-4, 2-0 ACC) pulled out a victory over the Eagles (11-3, 0-2). Craig Smith, who scored 26 points for the Eagles, tied the score at 55-55 with a free throw with 55 seconds left.

OTHER GAMES

Abdulai Jalloh forced a shot in traffic, but Rob Ferguson grabbed the airball and scored with 2.2 seconds left at the Palestra in Philadelphia to give St. Joseph’s (6-5, 1-1 Atlantic 10) a 59-57 victory over Temple (6-6, 0-2). There was no sign of any carry-over from either team in their first matchup since February’s infamous “goon game,” when Temple Coach John Chaney sent in Nehemiah Ingram to commit hard fouls that resulted in a broken arm for St. Joseph’s John Bryant. Ingram, who was loudly booed when he entered the game with 3:04 left in the first half, scored two points.

Syracuse (13-2, 1-0 Big East) beat visiting South Florida, 63-57. The Orange led, 57-39, with 6:47 to play, but the Bulls (6-9, 0-2) closed the game with an 18-6 run. However, the Orange made four of six free throws to hold off the Bulls’ comeback.

Tennessee overcame a 15-point second-half deficit at Columbia, S.C., to continue its best start in five years with a 76-69 victory over South Carolina (9-5). The Vols are 10-1, their best mark since starting 16-1 in 2000-01.

Keydren Clark, the nation’s leading scorer the last two seasons, led St. Peter’s (7-6, 3-1) Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) with 41 points, but Manhattan (8-4, 4-0) defeated the Peacocks, 95-82, at New York for its eighth consecutive victory.

From the Associated Press