NEW YORK _ Villanova coach Jay Wright had predicted a few days earlier than his team's game against St. John's would not be pretty, and he was definitely right.
The 13th-ranked Wildcats looked good for about 12 minutes Sunday, taking a 19-point lead during that time, in front of a sellout crowd of 19,812 at Madison Square Garden and then saw their offense unravel with missed shots and turnovers.
The Red Storm rallied in the second half, coming all the way back and delivering a big boost to their NCAA hopes by defeating Villanova, 71-65,
The Wildcats (20-6, 11-2 Big East) made just five of 24 shots in the second half and finished the game shooting 33.3 percent with 16 turnovers. Their two best scorers, Phil Booth and Eric Paschall, combined for just one 3-point basket and 4-of-22 shooting.
Joe Cremo led the 'Cats with 14 points. Booth finished with a team-high 13 points, and Paschall had 11; both players were averaging 20 points entering the game.
The Red Storm (19-7, 7-6), who shot poorly in the first half, came back to make seven 3-point baskets in 13 tries in the second half to fuel their comeback. L.J. Figueroa led St. John's with 22 points.
The Wildcats led by 19 midway through the first half and by 14, 48-34, with 12:46 to play before the Red Storm broke out of their shooting miseries in a big way. After making three of its first 12 shots in the second half, St. John's made six of eight in a 20-5 run that included two 3-point baskets each from Figueroa and Mustapha Heron and took a 54-53 lead with 7:26 to play.
Two of St. John's points, free throws by Shamorie Ponds, came after a technical foul had been assessed on Wright.
Meanwhile, Villanova had gone ice cold, hitting just three of its first 17 shots in the second half and turning it over at an alarming rate.
The Wildcats made just one basket after losing the lead, taking a 57-55 advantage on Booth's hook shot with 4:39 to play, but Figueroa gave St. John's the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 3:50 to play. The Red Storm clinched the win with their free throw shooting.
The Wildcats clearly dominated the first 12 minutes of the first half, keeping the heat on the Red Storm defensively in taking a 29-10 lead. They made 10 of their first 18 shots and six of their 12 3-point attempts and got contributions from their bench that included back-to-back 3s by freshman Jahvon Quinerly.
St. John's made just four of its first 18 field-goal tries and saw Ponds struggle, going without a field goal for the game's first 14 minutes.
However, Villanova cooled off after Paschall's 3 with 8:50 left in the half produced the 19-point advantage. The Cats made just three of their last 12 tries from the floor and went 2-of-8 from 3 while turning the ball over five times.
The Red Storm couldn't quite find their shooting eye but they gradually whittled the deficit down, scoring on their last five possessions capped by a 75-foot heave from Simon at the buzzer that banked in.
The Red Storm came out and twice got the deficit under 10, the second time on Marvin Clark's second 3-pointer of the half that made the score 42-34 with 15:33 to play.
But Paschall sank two free throws when Figueroa was assessed a technical foul, and after Saddiq Bey knocked down a 3-pointer and Cremo sank a free throw, the Villanova lead was back to 14, 48-34, with 12:46 to play. St. John's had an answer, however.
