#6 Villanova too strong for Blue Demons

PHILADELPHIA—James Bell had 17 points and eight rebounds, Ryan Arcidiacono scored 14 points, and sixth-ranked Villanova won their fifth straight game, 88-62 over DePaul on Saturday.The Wildcats (16-1, 5-0 Big East) made a whopping 19 of 26 shots (73 percent) in the second half as they continue to steamroll through the revamped conference. Villanova tied a season low with five turnovers.Daniel Ochefu had 14 points on 6 for 6 shooting and six rebounds, and Josh Hart hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 points for the Wildcats.The Wildcats built a halftime lead without a point from their two leading scorers, JayVaughn Pinkston (16.1) and Darrun Hilliard (13.9).Pinkston’s first basket was a crowd-pleasing dunk that gave the Wildcats a 40-28 lead. That followed Ochefu’s three-point play and Arcidiacono’s pull-up jumper that helped the Wildcats start to pull away.Hilliard, in a 1-for-17 skid, hit a jumper for his first basket of the game, helping Villanova hit 7 of 8 shots to build a 13-point lead.Arcidiacono and Hart connected on consecutive 3s midway through the half and Bell and Hart did the same to pile on late in the second for a 75-52 lead.Arcidiacono tweaked his left knee in practice Thursday, then sat out the following day. He wore a protective sleeve on his left knee.About the only sore point for Villanova came late in the game when Hart was hit with a flagrant foul and a technical.The Blue Demons (10-9, 2-4) entered on a rare two-game conference winning streak, but failed to get three straight for the first time since 2006-07. Brandon Young led them with 13 points.The Wildcats had much more fun scoring on 13 of their first 18 possessions in the second than they did during a disjointed first half.Hilliard (0 for 5) and Pinkston (0 for 3) failed to score a basket in the first half and were bailed out by Arcidiacono and Ochefu’s (combined 8 for 12) sharp shooting. The Wildcats got away with Hilliard and Pinkston’s first-half ineffectiveness against DePaul. They might not be so lucky against No. 20 Creighton on Monday at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center.