Associated Press
Villanova's Corey Fisher shoots over Dayton's Luke Fabrizius.
Villanova fends off Dayton
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Corey Fisher claims he never got nervous after No. 5 Villanova nearly gave up an 18-point lead to No. 18 Dayton in the second half.
It showed at the free-throw line.
Fisher scored 18 points and was perfect in four trips to the foul line in the final minutes to help the Wildcats (4-0) hold on for a 71-65 victory yesterday in the semifinal round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
"That's basketball," Fisher said. "We knew they were going to make a run. We just had to play Villanova basketball."
After trailing by 18 early in the second half, the Flyers (2-1) trimmed the lead to 62-60 with 2 minutes, 23 seconds left in regulation when London Warren converted two free throws after he was fouled on a breakaway. But Villanova, which finished 22-for-29 from the line, scored the rest of its points at the line, including Fisher's four. Dayton made only 12 of 19 free throws.
"We were terrible at the line last night [against George Mason]," Wildcats coach Jay Wright said. "Part of being a good free throw shooting team is getting the right guys to the line. We had some experienced guys there tonight - Fish [10-for-12], Antonio Pena [5-for-8], Taylor King [2-for-4] - and they did a great job converting those opportunities."
King had 14 points and nine rebounds, and Pena added 13 points as Scottie Reynolds had an off night, scoring eight points on 3-for-12 shooting from the floor.
Wright praised the aggressiveness that helped Dayton climb back into the game.
"It was our night tonight, but they're as good as anyone in the country," he said. "They do as good a job as anybody we play against at driving against the shooter."
"Dayton's a great team. We knew that they would keep coming at us," Fisher said. "We knew this was going to go down to the buzzer, and it did. We just tried to keep getting stops and being aggressive in the offfensive end."
Villanova led at halftime, 37-29, and went up 51-34 on a dunk by Pena, who was left alone inside the key. A three-pointer by King gave the Wildcats their biggest lead of the game at 54-36 with 14:09 to play.
"We talked about getting off to a good start tonight," Pena said. "We didn't last night, and it made everything tough for us. We came out with a lot of energy and that was definitely one of the keys for us."
The Flyers climbed back into the game by shooting 7-for-16 from behind the arc in the second half.
Luke Fabrizius led the rally for Dayton, scoring nine of his 16 points in the second half, along with grabbing nine rebounds. Chris Wright added 15 points and Chris Johnson had 13.
"This early in the season, I don't think we handled the pressure that well," Wright said.
The Wildcats held on by converting nine of 10 free throws in the final 2:12 of the game. Villanova outrebounded Dayton, 43-35, and scored 13 points off Dayton's 17 turnovers.
"We were sloppy. Sloppy offensively," Dayton coach Brian Gregory said. "Give them credit. They did a lot of things that threw us out of sorts."
Villanova next plays Mississippi tomorrow at 8 p.m. The game will be on ESPN2.
