Villanova men's hoops wins exhibition in Spain

Behind 16 points and seven rebounds by Josh Hart, Villanova opened up its three-game exhibition game tour of Spain on Friday in Badalona with an 89-49 victory over a Spanish Select Team.

The Wildcats trailed only once, 2-0, before a 9-0 run gave them the lead for good. They led, 56-26, at halftime in cruising to the victory. Jalen Brunson added 15 points, freshman Dylan Painter 14 and Mikal Bridges 12 for the winners.

"That was a great start for us," Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. "I thought we received outstanding leadership from Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins. Those guys got the team ready to play, and that was important. We had a group of younger guys that were kind of playing for us for the first time, and our seniors did a great job of showing the kind of concentration and focus you need to bring each day."

Wright said the opponents were Division II professional players and added, "We'll get an even tougher test in Madrid when we see Division I professional players."

The Wildcats play their last two games of the tour Sunday and Tuesday in Madrid.

Guard Dante DiVincenzo had six points and seven rebounds before leaving the game in the third quarter. Wright said he had a sprained left ankle.

"Donte played great," Wright said. "It was a shame he hurt his ankle but we're relieved at how it turned out."

Wright also was happy with the performance of Painter and Villanova's two other newcomers. Sophomore Eric Paschall, a transfer who started in place of the injured Darryl Reynolds, scored nine points and pulled down seven rebounds, and Tim Delaney, who redshirted last year because of two hip surgeries, saw some playing time.

"We're really happy with Eric," Wright said. "It's great that he could get a start with Darryl not being here. It was his first opportunity to play our way in a game situation, and he did a great job with it. And Dylan Painter, in his first game with us, did an outstanding job, as did Tim Delaney, who had barely practiced this week."

- Joe Juliano