Wildcats upended by Red Storm

With Villanova ready to seize a pivotal Big East game by the throat in the final four minutes, St. John's actually outfought the Wildcats for control of it. Then again, that was pretty much the story of the entire day.

Even with their shaky play on offense the last couple of weeks, the 15th-ranked Wildcats at least could rely on defense and rebounding to win or stay competitive to the end. But they were lacking in both areas Saturday, and the No. 23 Red Storm handed them an 81-68 defeat at the Wells Fargo Center.

In winning their sixth consecutive game, the Red Storm (19-9, 11-5 Big East) played with the urgency of a team determined to get a two-day bye into the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.

Villanova? Not so much, and now there is a real possibility the Cats will have to play on the first day of the five-day event.

The Wildcats (21-8, 9-7), who lost for the fourth time in their last six games, gave up 18 points in the first five-plus minutes and trailed by 14. After clawing out of that hole to draw to within a point, 65-64, with four minutes remaining, they were outscored by 16-4 the rest of the way.

Coach Jay Wright tried to put the best face on an ugly week - losses to Syracuse and St. John's in South Philadelphia that dropped his team to 5-7 after a 16-1 start - with road games against the conference's top two teams, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, closing out the regular season.

"Honestly, I feel like we're getting - believe it or not - a little bit better, but not good enough for this league," Wright said. "I don't think we're getting worse. If we didn't play a Syracuse, a St. John's, a Pitt, maybe it might show. But it's not good enough right now for this league.

"Against their pressure, they turn people over a lot. We only had 12 turnovers, but we had timely poor turnovers. So it's little things like that. I do think we're getting a little bit better, but not good enough."

Two telling moments came after Maalik Wayns' three-point play had cut the deficit to one. Paris Horne went to the foul line for St. John's and hit the first free throw. When he missed the second, teammate D.J. Kennedy grabbed the rebound, which led to two free throws by Dwight Hardy to make it 68-64.

Two possessions later, Kennedy sank the first of two foul shots, bricked the second, and watched as Horne came down with the rebound, giving the visitors another possession capped by Kennedy's driving layup that extended the Red Storm's lead to 73-65 with 1 minute, 29 seconds to play.

Wright said St. John's deserved credit for beating his players to rebounds.

"We gave up two huge offensive rebounds on free throws," he said. "That's what I was saying about us. We took Mouph [Yarou] out because we were going against their press, so we don't have him in there [on Horne's miss]. We're a little disjointed."

The Red Storm, who defeated a ranked team on the road for the first time since Jan. 17, 2002, outrebounded Villanova, 39-33, and pulled down 11 offensive boards, good for 15 second-chance points.

The Wildcats found little success guarding Hardy, who collected a career-high 34 points and is averaging 26.4 over his last seven games in his late bid for conference player of the year. Kennedy added 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Corey Stokes posted his second straight excellent game since returning from a toe injury, hitting six three-pointers and scoring 20 points, while Wayns added 19. But Corey Fisher couldn't make a shot, going 1 for 10 overall and 0 for 8 on threes, and finished his week 4 for 26 and 0 for 16.

Fisher, who had two points and seven assists, was healthy, Wright said.

"He got good looks," the coach said. "I don't know. I really don't. The best thing that we can tell him is to keep shooting it. We have confidence in him. We're going to ride him."

At the end, it was St. John's senior forward Sean Evans, a Northeast High graduate who had never beaten Villanova, dribbling out the clock while Wildcats fans were fleeing to the exits.

"Dwight called for the ball and I said, 'I've got this,' " Evans said. "I watched the clock run down, and it meant a lot to me."