Moore scores 16 to help No. 15 Villanova hold off St John's
NEW YORK (AP) — Justin Moore scored 16 points on a sore ankle and No. 15 Villanova held off a furious late charge by St. John's in a 75-69 victory Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Eric Dixon also had 16 points and the Wildcats (18-6, 11-3 Big East) overcame a scoreless outing by banged-up star Collin Gillespie to stay two losses behind first-place Providence in the conference standings.
Aaron Wheeler rallied the cold-shooting Red Storm (13-10, 5-7) with 31 points — 14 more than his previous career high. St. John's trailed by 20 with 4:27 remaining but suddenly started making plays on both ends and got back into it.
They shaved the deficit to 72-69 on a 3-pointer by Wheeler, a transfer from Purdue, with 35 seconds left.
Tareq Coburn made a steal on the other end and St. John's, playing without injured point guard Posh Alexander, actually had a chance to tie it when Coburn got a good look at a 3 but missed.
Jermaine Samuels sank a pair of free throws and Brandon Slater added another to finally seal it.
Slater had 15 points and seven rebounds for Villanova. Samuels and Caleb Daniels each scored 13.
Gillespie, the third-leading scorer in the Big East at 17.2 points per game and the conference's co-player of the year last season, went 0 for 5 from the field and failed to score for the first time since he was a freshman on Villanova's 2018 national championship team.
The 6-foot-3 senior found a way to contribute in other ways during 26 minutes on the court, grabbing a team-leading 10 rebounds — his most this season.
Gillespie and Moore, the Wildcats' top two scorers, were both in the starting lineup after the veteran guards were game-time decisions because of sprained ankles.
It was perhaps a pleasant surprise for Villanova — neither one practiced Monday and coach Jay Wright didn't sound too optimistic about either one playing.
Instead, it was Alexander who was unavailable because of a right ankle injury — leaving the Red Storm without last season's Big East freshman of the year and the frenzied engine who makes them go.
Alexander hurt his ankle late in Saturday’s win at Butler and spent this one sitting on the bench in grey sweats and a large walking boot.
BIG PICTURE
Villanova: Improved to 11-2 since consecutive road losses by at least 20 points against then-No. 2 Baylor and Creighton in December. Both defeats during that stretch have come against Marquette. The Wildcats have been kings of the reconfigured Big East for years, but they have a serious challenger this season and are headed toward a showdown at Providence next Tuesday night in the first of two scheduled meetings.
St. John's: After winning two Big East road games in three days last week, the Red Storm were unable to follow it up against a top-flight opponent without Alexander. Playing their fifth game in 11 days, they dropped to 0-5 versus ranked teams and are running out of opportunities for a signature win that could start to build any semblance of a postseason resume.
UP NEXT
Villanova: Three days of much-needed rest before hosting Seton Hall on Saturday afternoon. Gillespie scored 21 points in a 73-67 road victory on New Year's Day over the Pirates, then ranked No. 15 in the nation.
St. John’s: Back at Madison Square Garden to host No. 24 Connecticut in a noon start on Super Bowl Sunday. It will be the second road game for the Huskies in a span of 41 hours, although they'll probably have plenty of fans in the building. St. John's nearly stole one at UConn on Jan. 12 but lost 86-78 in overtime despite 27 points from Julian Champagnie.
___
For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25