Villanova takes apart St. Joseph's, 74-46

Jay Wright probably won't be happy that Villanova committed a season-high 15 turnovers on Saturday, barely made half of its free throws and narrowly lost the rebounding battle against St. Joseph's.

But the 10th-ranked Wildcats got their usual balanced scoring and limited the Hawks to 30.5 percent shooting in picking up their second Big Five victory in four days, 74-46, over St. Joseph's at the Pavilion.

Josh Hart led Villanova (8-0, 2-0 Big Five) with 12 points and Darrun Hilliard added 11. Six other players for the Wildcats scored between six and eight points. DeAndre' Bembry, with 13 points, was the only player in double figures for St. Joe's (4-4, 1-1).

The Wildcats shot 44.8 percent from the field, connected on nine three-pointers and made 54.2 percent of their free throws. They were outrebounded 42-41.

The Hawks, who missed their first 14 shots of the second half, turned the ball over 21 times in the game.

Villanova shot 47 percent from the field in the first half and forced 13 turnovers in taking a 44-24 lead at the break. The Cats capitalized on the Hawks' poor shooting at the start of the second half and boosted their margin to 30, 56-26, after a 12-2 run that included two points each from six different players. Chris Wilson hit a followup floater for St. Joe's first bucket.

A dunk by JayVaughn Pinkston gave 'Nova its largest lead, 59-28, with 9:31 to play.

The Wildcats got off to a fast start, holding the Hawks without a point for the opening 4:36 in taking an 8-0 lead. They hit three consecutive three-pointers to extend their advantage to 17-2. Two free throws by Josh Hart made it an 18-point game, 28-10, with 9:52 left in the first half.

At this point, Villanova had connected on 10 of 17 attempts from the field and were 4-of-6 from three-point distance.

St. Joseph's then had its best offensive stretch of the game, draining three straight shots including a three-pointer by Wilson, and cut a 32-13 deficit to 12 points with 5:46 left but Dylan Ennis answered with a three-pointer.

The Hawks notched one field goal the remainder of the half and Villanova had a 44-24 lead despite making just five of its last 15 shot attempts in the period.