Villanova shakes off sluggish start, beats FDU

AND AWAY THEY GO.

The Villanova Wildcats played their first official basketball game in 8 months last night at the Pavilion. The first one for the Wildcats since they lost to eventual national champion North Carolina in the national semifinals, in their first trip to the Final Four in nearly a quarter-century.

Now, with some familiar faces from that group and a bunch of mostly highly touted new ones, they start anew as the country's fifth-ranked club. Whether that early assessment is fair or even accurate at this juncture, it nevertheless comes with obviously big-time expectations.

Remember, it doesn't matter where you begin. The only thing people remember is how you finish.

That's why they call it a journey.

The first step of that trek went into the books as an 84-61 win over a Fairleigh Dickinson squad that was picked to finish eighth in the Northeast Conference. Which probably is about what many expected. It is, after all, the reason a lot of these early-season matchups are scheduled. But what most might not have foreseen was a 15-2 run by the visitors late in the first half that turned a 10-point 'Nova lead into a real live game.

It happens, especially on Nov. 13. The 'Cats led by one by the time they headed back to the locker room. It remained a four-point margin with 15 minutes to go. Finally, the 'Cats pulled away, as logic dictated they were supposed to.

They will host Penn on Monday night, before heading to San Juan to play in a made-for-ESPN event called the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Classic, where they will get George Mason in Thursday's opener and Dayton or Georgia Tech in Friday's second round.

But first things first. Earlier this week, 6-10 freshman forward Mouphtaou Yarou's eligibility had been called into question by an article in The Sporting News over a possible age discrepancy because of his alleged participation in a 2007 tournament in his native Benin, in West Africa. Villanova sent a copy of Yarou's birth certificate to the NCAA, and, as far as the school is concerned, the matter is history.

"Basically, [the NCAA] said, 'We certified him. We stand by that certification,' " Villanova athletic director Vince Nicastro said.

"I don't think the rest of our guys really knew much about it," coach Jay Wright said. "It wasn't a distraction. To me, it was. It dominated the staff. It was a big thing. I was worried about it, a lot, because you don't know."

Yarou said he wasn't concerned, pretty much because he knew the facts were on his side.

"It wasn't really a big deal," he said. "I always know who I am."

As for this team, it might take a while to truly find out.

The 'Cats got 20 points from junior Corey Stokes, including 17 after intermission. He made six of 12 shots, including five of 10 from the arc, in 26 minutes. The five treys tied a career high. It's w

hat he can do.

"I'm a shooter," he said. "You're going to miss some. You've got to keep shooting. It's what I'm here for."

Junior guard Corey Fisher was the only other Wildcat to reach double figures. He finished with 13, to go with four rebounds and as many assists.

Junior center Antonio Pena, looking much more active than he did last season, had nine points and 10 rebounds. Just as impressive, he stayed on the court for 32 minutes and had one more assist (three) than turnovers.

One of the first-year guys, Dominic Cheek, scored all eight of his points in the first half. Freshman Maalik Wayns had six, with two assists and a pair of steals. Yarou had six points and three boards. Taylor King, a transfer from Duke, had nine points and seven boards.

Get used to this group-effort thing.

It was enough to make you forget that Scottie Reynolds contributed only eight points on 10 shots.

"It wasn't pretty," Wright acknowledged, correctly. "I hope [people] understand this is new for us. All this hype. Well, now everyone sees it. I think we can be good. But we have a lot of work to do.

"This group doesn't have any collective experience. We got the lead and relaxed. And [FDU] kept coming at us. They were fired up, we were down. We responded. We need to go through this together. Last year's team had been here before, done that.

"Our guys were a little scared at the half. You could see it in their eyes."

He didn't mean it as a bad thing. Just different.

The Knights - whose interim coach (Greg Vetrone) got the gig, his first, only 4 months ago - got 17 points from Terence Grier, 15 from Mike Scott and 11 from Sean Baptiste. Scott, a junior, played at Franklin Learning Center before heading to Eastern Utah and then Texas Christian. Now that's a journey.

At the half, FDU had one fewer field goal that Villanova, on eight fewer attempts. The numbers would change. In the game, the 'Cats finished with 18 more points from three, and 11 more rebounds. They also had seven fewer turnovers and nine more assists.

You have to begin somewhere.

"It's really tough [meshing so many new players]," Fisher noted. "But that's the fun thing about basketball. I was a freshman at one time. I didn't understand everything at both ends of the floor. That's the challenge. That's what we've got leaders for. We want to get better as we keep playing, game by game."

Keep the growth chart handy. *