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Seton Hall 78, #15 St. John's 67 - The Pirates took their first lead of the game during an 8-0 run to close the first half and went to the break with a 40-35 lead. From there, Seton Hall was able to hold on to their lead. They never ran away with the game, although they did push the lead as high as 14 with just over 10 minutes remaining. St. John's cut it to just two points with 5:21 remaining on a pair of free throws from D`Angelo Harrison, but Seton Hall responded with a layup from Angel Delgado and a triple from Sterling Gibbs to push it back to a seven point margin.
Harrison and Gibbs both had 25 points to lead both of their teams. Delgado and Brandon Mobley both had points & rebounds double-doubles for the Pirates. Go check out Rumble In The Garden or South Orange Juice for more on this one.
#6 Villanova 67, Butler 55 - The Wildcats built, then lost, then rebuilt a double digit lead en route to tying a program record for consecutive wins to open the season. They were up 11 in the first half before Butler cut it to two late in the first half on an Andrew Chrabascz bucket. But Butler missed 13 of their first 15 shots in the second half, which put them in a 14 point hole with less than 10 minutes to play. The closest they would get would be 10 with 70 seconds left on an Alex Barlow triple.
Four different Wildcats scored in double digits, including 15 from Ryan Arcidiacono to lead the way. It's the first time this season that Arcidiacono has led VU in scoring. Chrabascz and Barlow both had 12 points to lead Butler, while Roosevelt Jones had eight points and nine rebounds. VU Hoops will have more for you.
Providence 65, Creighton 53 - Kris Dunn had seven assists at halftime for the Friars. SEVEN! That was his per game average coming into this game!
LaDontae Henton had a game high 35 points for Providence, including eight of PC's points in a 10-2 run to open up the second half. Amazingly, he was the only Friar in double digits for points, although Dunn finished with six points, 12 assists, and eight rebounds.
Creighton did cut into Providence's lead in the second half, making it a five point game with 12 minutes left, but PC answered with 12 straight after that to push it to 17 and coast from there. Geoffrey Groselle had 14 points off the bench to lead the way for Creighton. Head over to White & Blue Review for more on this game.
Xavier 70, Georgetown 53 - The Musketeers completed the home team sweep of the day behind a career high 17 points off the bench from Jalen Reynolds, plus a nine point and 10 rebound effort from James Farr.
Xavier jumped out to an 8-2 lead early and would lead by as many as 11 in the opening frame before settling at six at the break. A 6-1 Hoyas run to open the second half cut the margin to just 32-31, but the next four points came on the Xavier end, and an 8-0 run for the Musketeers right before the 10 minute mark pushed the lead back to a comfortable 10 points. The lead just got bigger from there, as Georgetown wasn't able to capitalize on the mystique of wearing white uniforms on the road.
D`Vauntes Smith-Rivera had a game high 18 points in the losing effort. You can check in with Casual Hoya or Banners On The Parkway for the fine details of the game.