VILLANOVA, Pa. _ Despite winning 18 straight games against DePaul entering Tuesday night's game at Finneran Pavilion, Villanova is always ready for a hard-fought contest against the Blue Demons, and it got one that lasted an extra five minutes.
The 14th-ranked Wildcats blew an 11-point lead in the final 2 minutes, 14 seconds to force overtime, but had barely enough offense to pull ahead in the extra period when Collin Gillespie scored six of his 21 points to help lift his team to a 79-75 victory, extending their win streak against the Blue Demons to 19.
Villanova (13-3, 4-1 Big East) looked comfortable when Jeremiah Robinson-Earl sank two free throws for a 66-55 lead late in the second half, but the Wildcats turned the ball over four times to fuel an 11-0 run by DePaul (12-5, 0-4). Gillespie began the overtime with four straight free throws, but a turnover on the Cats' third possession led to a layup by Charlie Moore.
Saddiq Bey and Jermaine Samuels hit baskets in the paint for a 75-72 lead and Moore missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:10 left to give 'Nova a chance to get some breathing room, but it committed another turnover. Moore's two free throws with 6.4 seconds left made it a one-point game.
Gillespie was fouled trying to beat the press and sank two free throws with 3.3 seconds remaining. Moore was fouled at 1.2 seconds, made the first and deliberately missed the second, but Samuels rebounded and closed out the game with two free throws.
Gillespie finished with 21 points for the Wildcats and Bey added 18. Robinson-Earl had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Moore led all scorers with 29 and Paul Reed chipped in with 18 plus 15 rebounds for DePaul.
Villanova fell behind by 13 in the first half, but scored the last 12 points of the period to take a 30-28 halftime lead despite shooting just 31% from the field. The Wildcats ran their offense more smoothly for much of the second half, sinking 7 of their first 12 shots to take a 50-43 lead on back-to-back layups by Robinson-Earl, the second with 10:53 to play.
Robinson-Earl scored again on a layup to increase the margin to nine, 54-45. After the Blue Demons drew to within five, Bey scored five points in a 7-0 run that got the lead up to 61-49 on Robinson-Earl's tap-in with 4:12 remaining. The Cats appeared to be home free.
