Big East Basketball Recap: 03/02

Reynolds, Wildcats rebound against Irish

Scottie Reynolds scored a team-high 23 points, including a 6-7 mark from 3-point range, leading his Villanova Wildcats to a 77-60 victory over the NIT-bound Notre Dame Irish on the last Big Monday of the season.

The Wildcats, (24-6, 12-5 Big East) coming off an upset loss at home to the reeling Georgetown Hoyas committing a season-high 20 turnovers, established another seasonal mark, but in the opposite direction of their offensive inefficiency against the Hoyas, surrendering only five turnovers, a new season low.

’Nova found themselves in a dogfight, only up one on the road against a team that previously held the nation’s longest home winning streak at 45 straight just six weeks ago, but a 26-9 run to end the game put dashed the Irish’s (16-13, 7-10) hopes.

Complimenting Reynolds came in the roles of Dante Cunningham, who scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Shane Clark who finished with 13.

Also in a rebounding mode, the Cats as a team shot 9-17 (53 percent) from downtown after just (3-18)19 percent on Saturday.

Ryan Ayers scored a game-high 25 points, including 7-10 from deep in addition to his four assists for the Irish.

Luke Harangody also put in 18 points, but Monday’s loss marked his sixth occurrence out of the last eight games he finished with a scoring performance below his average of 24 per game.

Outside of Harangody and Ayers, the Irish shot just 5-26 from the floor.

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By Al Buzzelli
BigEast-fans.com Staff Writer

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