MORE FROM THE WEB
More fan contributions from Philly.com Sports partner Bleacher Report
Freshman Pat Connaughton drilled a pair of three-point baskets in overtime to lead No. 23 Notre Dame, which rallied from a 20-point deficit to force the extra period, to a 74-70 victory over Villanova in a Big East Conference game Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Wildcats (11-15 overall, 4-10 Big East), who held a 39-19 lead late in the first half, scored the basket that forced the game into overtime. Maurice Sutton put back a missed shot by Ty Johnson with 0.9 seconds to play to enable Villanova to tie the game at 60-all.
Get Your Villanova Wildcats Gear Here
After the game was tied 62-62 and 65-65, Jerian Grant gave Notre Dame (19-8, 11-3) the lead for good with a three-point basket with 1 minute, 28 seconds remaining. After JayVaughn Pinkston missed a three for Villanova, Connaughton drained his second three-ball of the extra period to put the Fighting Irish up by six.
Pinkston led the Wildcats with 24 points and Dominic Cheek added 19. Connaughton's 21 points led the Fighting Irish and Jack Cooley added 18.
The Wildcats, who lost for the fifth time in their last six games, played without two starters. Junior Maalik Wayns, their leading scorer with an average of nearly 18 points, sat out his second straight game with a sprained left knee, while sophomore James Bell was sidelined with a sprained left ankle.
The Wildcats still led by nine, 56-47, with 4:26 left in regulation before the Fighting Irish went on a 13-0 spurt that gave them the lead.
Eric Atkins scored six points in the run, including a running bank shot that began a conventional three-point play and gave the Irish the lead, 57-56, with 1:43 remaining. Grant followed with a three-point basket and Notre Dame led by four with 59.2 seconds to play.
But the Wildcats got two free throws from Cheek with 47.8 seconds left to get to within two and Villanova had one more chance with 8.7 seconds to play after Grant missed a three-point shot, and succeeded in forcing the overtime.
The Wildcats shot just under 50 percent in the first half in taking a 39-23 halftime lead. They outrebounded Notre Dame 24-10 and held the Fighting Irish to 35.7 percent shooting while committing just three turnovers.
The Wildcats trailed 10-5 just four minutes into the game before outscoring Notre Dame 28-5 over the next 12 minutes to take a 33-15 lead. They sank 12 of 21 shots from the field while limiting the Fighting Irish to just two field goals in 15 attempts.
Villanova also hit four of six three-point tries during this time, two each by Pinkston and Cheek. Pinkston scored 12 points during the run, including a floater in the lane that ended the spurt with 4:01 to play.
The 'Nova lead later reached 20, 39-19, when Johnson set up Markus Kennedy for a dunk with 1:53 remaining. That was the Cats' final basket of the first half, and Cooley hit two shots in the paint to pull the Fighting Irish to within 39-23 at the break.
Pinkston finished the first half with 14 points and Cheek added 11. Cooley led the Irish with 10.
The Wildcats got off to a slow start in the second half, and Notre Dame got back-to-back three-point baskets from Connaughton and Grant to trim the deficit to 10, 42-32. Villanova got the lead back to 14 before the Fighting Irish scored seven straight points to make it a game once again.
Contact staff writer Joe Juliano at 215-854-4494, jjuliano@phillynews.com, or @joejulesinq on Twitter.
