PHILADELPHIA _ La Salle did its level best Saturday to give head coach Ashley Howard his first career victory over Villanova, the school where he sat on Jay Wright's bench for the last five seasons.
But the youthful Explorers, playing without two starters including top scorer Pookie Powell, fell just short to the 23rd-ranked Wildcats. Eric Paschall scored 27 points and Phil Booth added 19 to lift the Cats to an 85-78 victory in a Big 5 game at the Palestra.
The Wildcats (6-2), who won their 23rd consecutive City Series game, trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half before cutting the deficit to three, 42-39, at the break. They took their first lead since 2-0 when Saddiq Bey's four-point play gave them a 58-57 lead with 12 minutes, 44 seconds left to play.
The Cats got the margin up to six, 69-63, on a layup by Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree with 7:24 remaining.
La Salle, which made 11 of its first 15 shots in the second half, stayed close and got to within one point on three occasions, the final time at 73-72 on a drive in the lane by David Beatty with 5:26 to play. But the Explorers went without a point for nearly 3{ minutes and Phil booth scored four of the next six points for Villanova, and a 79-72 advantage.
La Salle's Miles Brookins sank a pair of layups to make it a three-point game but Collin Gillespie converted four straight free throws and Paschall two to put the Wildcats out of danger.
Gillespie finished with 15 for Villanova. Traci Carter scored 17 points and Isiah Deas 15 for the Explorers (0-8), who shot 58 percent from the field.
La Salle played without two injured starters _ Powell (back) and forward Jared Kimbrough (foot) _ as well as reserve guard Cheddi Mosely (concussion). Yet they came out firing in the first half, knocking down nine 3s.
The Wildcats also sank nine 3-point baskets in the opening half and finished the period shooting 60 percent from the floor. But they were outrebounded 14-8 and La Salle scored seven points off of five offensive rebounds.
The Explorers led in the first half for all but the first 31 seconds and held a 12-point advantage on three occasions, the final time at 38-26 on a 3-point basket by freshman Jack Clark with 4:23 left in the period. They also led 42-32 on a follow-up basket by Ed Croswell with 2:41 to play but were shut out for the rest of the half.
The Wildcats scored the last seven points of the half _ a 3-pointer by Booth and two baskets in the paint by Paschall _ to cut the deficit to three by halftime.
