PHILADELPHIA _ Villanova's Collin Gillespie made the first two three-point shots he took Sunday, and as far as Temple and its fans at Liacouras Center were concerned, he didn't miss again the rest of the afternoon.
That's not quite correct, but Gillespie knocked down a career-high seven threes and scored 29 points to lead the 15th-ranked Wildcats to a 76-56 victory over the Owls, giving them their sixth Big 5 championship in the last seven years.
After trailing 30-26 at the half, the Cats (19-6, 4-0) needed a big second half to overcome Temple (13-12, 2-2). Their spark was three straight Temple turnovers at the start of the period, leading to three-point baskets by Jermaine Samuels, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Gillespie.
That led to a 20-2 run in the first 5 minutes, 44 seconds of the half, with 18 of the points coming on six threes in eight attempts, giving 'Nova a 46-32 lead.
After the Owls closed the gap to seven with a 10-3 run, Gillespie hit a jumper in the lane, Samuels converted a conventional three-point play and Robinson-Earl put in a reverse layup to grow the margin to 13, 56-43, with 7:33 left.
Gillespie later put the game away with three consecutive threes, extending the lead to 65-47 with 4:19 remaining, and the Cats were home free.
