Villanova was just as clean and crisp as they were in their opening round win over the Marist Red Foxes in the Preseason NIT as they methodically took apart the Boston U. Terriers by the score 82-66 on Wednesday night at The Pavilion. While the final margin was 16, but it could have been much worse as Villanova stretched its lead to 20 at times and put on the brakes a bit.
Maalik Wayns and Antonio Pena were the stars tonight, with Pena having one of his best games as a Wildcat finishing with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Wayns was his super-self as his early season surge continued, finishing with 12 points, 12 assists, and 6 rebounds. They alone were too much for the Terriers, much less the rest of the team.
Mouphtaou Yarou continued to showed improvement finishing with 9 points and 6 rebounds and another encouraging effort on the defensive end. Corey Fisher continued to struggle from the field (5-14) but was good enough from the line (7-10) to finish with 16 points. Corey Stokes rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points of his own.
Again though, the most impressive facet was the defense. After BU proved they could play by dismantling the George Washington Colonials on opening night, the 'Nova D was stifling yet again as it held leading scorer John Holland to 14 points on 5-18 shooting, and his cohort Jake O'Brien to just 13 points.
We'll have more tomorrow as always from tonight's Wildcats win!