Philadelphia: The final push for March Madness keeps on going and that is what we had on Saturday afternoon as Villanova Wildcats took on Butler Bulldogs from Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia. Wildcats enter the game 21-8, 12-4 in Big East and off a win against Marquette on February 27 while the Bulldogs come to battle with 15-13, 6-9 in Big East and off an OT loss to Providence on February 26.
Eric Paschall would open the scoring for a 2-0 lead, Butler got on the board on the basket from Nate Fowler. The Bulldogs would bring the fight to the Wildcats and they would get the lead up to 9 at 19-10 with 8:47 left. The Wildcats would roar back and take the lead on 3 pointer from Phil Booth for a 24-23 lead with 4:02 left, Villanova would take a 33-30 lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Wildcats would grow the lead up to 17 at 51-34 with 12:37 left. The Bulldogs would go on a run and cut the Wildcats lead down to 8 at 51-43 with 9:43 left. After that run by the Bulldogs, Villanova would just take over lead by Phil Booth, Eric Paschall.
Eric Paschall Dunk & Foul
Eric Paschall & Phil Booth would exit the Wells Fargo Center to a standing ovation:
Paschall & Booth Leave Game
A crowd of 17,515 would see the Villanova Wildcats knockout the Butler Bulldogs 75-54. With the win, Villanova now goes to 22-8, 13-4 in Big East and will take on Seton Hall on March 9 and Butler falls to 15-14, 6-10 in Big East and will look to get back to their winning ways as they take on Xavier on March 5.
Final Numbers:
Villanova Wildcats:
Phil Booth: 28 points, 5 rebounds
Eric Paschall: 12 points, 5 rebounds
Saddiq Bey: 11 points, 4 rebounds
Butler Bulldogs:
Paul Jorgensen: 11 points, 1 rebound
Kamar Baldwin: 10 points, 5 rebounds
Video:
Villanova Coach Jay Wright:
Butler Coach LaVall Jordan:
The Big East Tournament Begins March 13-16 at Madison Square Garden on FS1 & FOX.
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