Villanova Survives Scare From No. 15 Seed Robert Morris in OT

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- On a wild first afternoon of the NCAA tournament, one of the top teams in the whole bracket barely avoided one of the biggest upsets of all time. Villanova, a year-long Big East contender that spent much of the season ranked in the top 10, needed overtime to knock off No. 15 seed Robert Morris 73-70.

The Northeast Conference-champion Colonials led the second-seeded Wildcats for nearly the entire game until Villanova took the lead in the final minute of regulation. Robert Morris guard Karon Abraham hit a circus layup and forward Dallas Green blocked a last-second alley-oop attempt to force overtime, but Villanova had just enough in the extra period.

When Villanova senior guard Scottie Reynolds, who was 1-for-14 from the field and 0-for-7 on 3-pointers in regulation, finally hit his first three of the game with a little more than a minute left, it gave the Wildcats a 67-61 lead and, it appeared, some comfort.

The Colonials cut the lead down to one point with 10.2 seconds left on a three-pointer by Abraham, but Reynolds made two free throws at the other end and Mezie Nwigwe's three-point attempt at the buzzer rattled out.



Share The day got off to an odd start in the Providence subregional when Villanova coach Jay Wright submitted a starting lineup that didn't include his team's top two scorers. Wright benched Reynolds and junior guard Corey Fisher, each of whom had started all 31 of the team's previous games, to start this one. Reynolds entered the game about four minutes in and Fisher shortly thereafter, but neither player hit a field goal in the first half and Fisher didn't score at all until there was a little more than eight minutes left in the game. As a result, Villanova looked out of sync offensively as Robert Morris surprisingly dominated them on the glass.

Robert Morris was trying to become the first No. 15 seed to win a tournament game in nine years and just the fifth all time. As it stands, the only 15-over-2 upsets are Richmond over Syracuse in 1991, Santa Clara over Arizona in 1993, Coppin State over South Carolina in 1997 and and Hampton over Iowa State in 2001.

Key Element: The rebounding. Robert Morris out-rebounded the bigger, stronger WIldcats 21-10 in the first half. But Villanova recovered and out-rebounded the Colonials 16-12 in the second half to help force overtime. Villanova never found its shooting touch, but at least it started to recover some of its misses. After collecting just three offensive rebounds in the first half, they got eight in the second.

Game Ball Goes To: Reynolds, whose senior leadership was a big reason Villanova was able to come back in the second half and force overtime. It's hard to imagine Reynolds has ever had such a miserable shooting day, but he retained his patience as he ran the offense in the final minutes of regulation; and he made his free throws down the stretch.

Heart Goes Out To: Karon Abraham, the Robert Morris guard who led his team in scoring. His signature moment will be the banked-in and-one three-pointer he hit with just over 11 minutes left in the game. He made the free throw to complete a four-point play and grow the Robert Morris lead back to eight as it seemed Villanova was ready to make a run. He also hit a tough layup in traffic to put Robert Morris ahead 58-56 with 1:03 left in the game.

What's Next: Villanova gets the winner of this afternoon's Richmond-St. Mary's game Saturday here in Providence. If they survive that, it's on to Houston for a Sweet 16 matchup with Baylor, Old Dominion or Sam Houston State.