Bridges scores 20 as No. 1 Villanova wins 95-71
UNIONDALE, N.Y. » Mikal Bridges scored 20 points and No. 1 Villanova remained unbeaten with a 95-71 rout of Hofstra on Friday night at the Nassau Coliseum.
Bridges was one of five players in double figures for Villanova (12-0).
Omari Spellman had 19 points in 31 minutes, Phil Booth finished with 17, Donte DiVincenzo had 16 and Jalen Brunson added 14 points.
The win marked the fifth time this season that Villanova has scored at least 90 points in a game. The Wildcats’ season high for points scored is 113 on Nov. 14 against Nicholls State.
Justin Wright-Foreman had 25 points for the Pride (7-5), who have lost two straight.
The Wildcats led 52-31 at halftime after Booth drilled a buzzer-beating 3 from 25 feet.
Villanova made 18 of 35 shots in the half, including 8 of 18 from 3-point range.
GEORGIA 84, TEMPLE 66 » After Yante Maten’s seasonhigh 30 points and suffocating defense in the first half led Georgia to an 8466 win over Temple Friday, Temple coach Fran Dunphy still considered the Owls’ defense on Maten passable.
Maten made 12-of-17 free throws and finished with 12 rebounds in Georgia’s 8466 win over Temple.
“Maten did a great job on a number of plays,” said Dunphy afterward. “I still thought we controlled Maten really well.”
Maten moved into the top 10 in career scoring at Georgia with 1,472 points, passing D.A. Layne and Sundiata Gaines. He is one of only four Bulldogs to rank in the top 10 in both points and rebounds, along with Alec Kessler, Bob Lienhard and Terry Fair.
Georgia (9-2) is off to its best start since winning 12 of 14 to start the 201011 season.
Obi Enechionyia led Temple (7-4) with 27 points. Quinton Rose scored 13.
BUCKNELL 88, LA SALLE 81 » Nana Foulland scored a career-high 30 points and Bucknell defeated La Salle 88-81 on Friday night.
Foulland was 12-of-15 shooting with Stephen Brown adding 21 points and Zach Thomas 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Bison (6-7). The senior trio came into the game averaging over a combined 50 points per game and finished this night with 67. The Bison shot 55 percent, which helped them counter 17 turnovers, and ran their home winning streak to 14, currently the ninth-longest nationally.
The Explorers (6-7) were led by a career-tying 29 points from Pookie Powell and a career-high 24 from Isiah Deas. La Salle was without leading scorer B.J. Johnson, out with ankle injury, and Miles Brookins, who was ill.
Bucknell led 41-34 at halftime and was up by 17 with 8:45 left in the game. La Salle got within nine, 82-73, with 1:54 to go but the Bison made 6 of 8 free throws from there to maintain a cushion.
RIDER 71, PENN STATE 70 » Frederick Scott scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half and made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift Rider to a 71-70 win over Penn State.
Dimencio Vaughn scored 16 points, Tyere Marshall added 15 and Stevie Jordan scored 12 for the Broncs (65) who trailed by as many as 10 with 14:18 to play.
Josh Reaves scored 10 points, grabbed a careerbest 13 rebounds and had eight assists for the Nittany Lions (10-4), who had their three-game winning streak snapped.
Shep Garner added 18 points on six 3-pointers and Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens and Mike Watkins scored 10 points apiece for the Nittany Lions.