PHILADELPHIA _ La Salle put up a strong challenge to No. 1 Villanova on Tuesday night, and came back from a 13-point deficit to make a game of it up to the final minute.
But the Wildcats, with Jalen Brunson controlling the offense from his point guard spot, had enough at the finish to outlast the Explorers, 89-79, at the Palestra for their 17th consecutive City Series victory.
Brunson scored a career-high 26 points for the Cats (9-0, 3-0 Big Five) and Josh Hart added 21. Brunson scored six of his points in the final 1 minute, 27 seconds to blunt a La Salle rally.
Sophomore guard Pookie Powell scored 27 points to lead the Explorers (4-3, 0-2).
The Wildcats held their largest lead, 65-52, with 7:17 to play after Hart and Mikal Bridges hit back-to-back 3-point baskets, and their advantage still stood at 10, 73-63, after Hart's turnaround basket with 2:39 remaining.
But the Explorers kept chipping away and narrowed the gap to four, 77-73, on a 3-pointer by Jordan Price with 1:18 to play. The margin was four at 79-75 before Hart took a length-of-the-court pass against the La Salle press and sank a layup.
After Amar Stukes missed for the Explorers, Brunson was fouled and sank two free throws to make it an eight-point lead, 83-75. Powell hit two free throws at the other end and Hart came back for Villanova, lost the ball, dove for it and from a sitting position, hit Donte DiVincenzo for a layup and an 85-77 lead with 28 seconds remaining.
The Explorers were hampered by below-average offensive nights from their two leading scorers, B.J. Johnson and Price, both scoring at better than an 18-points-per-game pace entering the game. Johnson was limited to 26 minutes by foul trouble and scored 13 points, while Price shot 4 of 10 and had nine points.
Leading by 40-36 at halftime, the Wildcats hit just two of their first nine shots in the second half. The Explorers didn't shoot much better but got to within two, 44-42, on Powell's two free throws.
But Villanova held La Salle without a field goal for more than a five-minute stretch and ran off nine consecutive points to take its largest lead to that point, 53-42, on Kris Jenkins' second-chance 3-pointer with 12:04 remaining.
The Explorers managed just 2-of-12 shooting from the floor in the opening eight minutes of the second half. Powell and Johnson scored on back-to-back trips down the court to draw La Salle to within seven, but Brunson and Bridges answered with consecutive baskets for the 65-52 lead.
The Wildcats shot 50 percent in the first half and drained five 3-point baskets in taking a 40-36 lead, but the Explorers stayed close with 57.1 percent shooting despite eight turnovers and the fact that three of their starters finished the first half with two fouls each.
Johnson, one of those players with two fouls, led La Salle at the half with nine points while Price, their second-leading scorer, had just four points but contributed game highs of six rebounds and four assists.
Brunson led the Wildcats at the half with 12 points and Hart had 10 points and four rebounds.
The Wildcats picked up some momentum late in the first half with a 9-1 run that included two baskets by Brunson, and took their largest lead of the period at 40-32 on Bridges' layup with 43 seconds left. But 6-foot guard Pookie Powell got the Explorers close in the final 14 seconds, hitting a jumper and then racing the length of the court for a layup that beat the buzzer.
