National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
St. John's 81, Villanova 68
When: 2:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 26, 2011
Where: The Pavilion, Villanova, Pennsylvania
Officials: # Chris Beaver, # Tim Higgins, # Mike Roberts
Attendance: 16042

Dwight Hardy continued to make his case for Big East Player of the Year with a career-high 34 points to lead No. 25 St. John’s past No. 14 Villanova, 81-68, in Philadelphia on Saturday.

D.J. Kennedy added 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Red Storm (19-9, 11-5 Big East), who won their sixth straight and sixth game over a ranked team this season.

Corey Stokes scored 20 points for the Wildcats (21-8, 9-7), who have dropped two in a row and four of six. They could slip all the way down to .500 in the conference with their final two games on the road at No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 6 Pittsburgh.

Villanova got within 65-64 with 4:00 left but could not find a way to stop Hardy from getting into the lane. The senior guard scored eight points in the final 3:20 as St. John’s closed with a 16-4 burst to pull away.

The Red Storm jumped out strong, opening up an 18-4 gap after the first 5:06, but Stokes hit three 3-pointers to help bring Villanova back to within 41-37 at the break.
Top Game Performances
 
St. John's   Villanova
Dwight Hardy 34 Scoring Corey Stokes 20
Justin Brownlee 4 Assists Corey Fisher 7
D.J. Kennedy 14 Rebounds Antonio Pena 8
Dwight Hardy 11 Free Throws Made Maalik Wayns 9
D.J. Kennedy 3 Steals Maalik Wayns 2
Justin Burrell 1 Blocks Dominic Cheek 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
St. John's 81 45.3 10-22 23-33 16 37 1 8
Villanova 68 40.0 9-29 15-23 17 23 2 4