Villanova and Purdue Fall in College Basketball Action

The #1 and #3 teams in the AP Top 25 Poll lost in close games on February 7th in an exciting evening of college basketball.

St. John’s is 12-13 overall this season and is questionable at best for making the post season, but the Red Storm has had a memorable week. On February 3rd, St. John’s beat then #4 Duke 81-77 at Madison Square Garden. The Red Storm then went out and outdid themselves taking down #1 Villanova 79-75 on the road in Philadelphia on February 7th. St. John’s had a 39-34 half time lead, but the Wildcats pulled to within one point at 74-73 on a Collin Gillespie three pointer with 25 seconds left. But the Red Storm hit five of six free throws in the remaining time, putting it away on a pair of free throws by Shamorie Ponds with three seconds left. Ponds led St. John’s with 26 points in the 79-75 victory, the team’s first Big East Conference win of the season after 11 straight losses. Fifth ranked Xavier (22-3, 10-2 in the Big East) leads Villanova (22-2, 9-2) by a half game in the Big East standings.

Meanwhile #14 Ohio State visited East Lafayette, Indiana to take on #3 Purdue, owners of a 19 game winning streak. The Boilermakers had a 58-51 lead with 5:29 left, but could not close it out as the Buckeyes put on a late 13-5 run to win 64-63. Ohio State is 21-5 overall, Purdue is 23-3; both are 12-1 and on top of the Big Ten standings but the Buckeyes hold the tie breaker over Purdue with the victory.

Second ranked Virginia had a tight one too, but beat Florida State 59-55 and will probably be the new number one in the next poll if the Cavaliers (23-1) beat Virginia Tech on February 10th.