Saint Joseph's placed five players in double figures but fell to eighth-ranked Villanova, 86-72, in the annual rivalry game before a sold-out crowd at Hagan Arena.
It was the Big 5 opener for both teams in what is the 60th anniversary of the historic Philadelphia basketball league.
DeAndre' Bembry scored a team-high 17 points and Isaiah Miles added 14 on 6-for-12 shooting. Sophomore point guard Shavar Newkirk had a career-high 13 points and career-high nine assists, with no turnovers, while James Demery also scored 13 points. Aaron Brown added 11 points for Saint Joseph's (4-2; 0-1 Big 5).
Kris Jenkins and Josh Hart each scored 18 points for Villanova (7-0), while Ryan Arcidiacono had 17 and Mikal Bridges added 11.
The Hawks trailed by as many as 15 points, 49-34, early in the second half, but Miles started a 15-5 SJU run with a jumper at 17:25. Bembry then energized the Hawk crowd with a steal and dunk to close the gap to 52-41. Miles finished the spurt with five more points and his three-pointer at 14:08 pulled SJU within 54-49.
The teams traded baskets for the next three minutes but SJU freshman Lamarr Kimble grabbed a steal and fed Demery on the break for a layup that put the Hawks within 61-55 at 10:19. Villanova regained the 10-point lead with a pair of free throws from Jenkins and a jumper from Josh Hart. With VU leading 68-57, SJU cut it to 68-59 on a dunk by Miles at 8:23, but that was the closest the Hawks would come the rest of the way.
Leading 15-11 in the first half, Villanova broke it open with a 14-4 run, to go up 34-20. The Wildcats were 8-for-18 from three-point range in the first half and took their biggest lead, 42-27, on a layup by Jenkins.
Saint Joseph's ended the half on a 7-2 run as Bembry connected on a three-pointer at 1:23 to bring the Hawks within 42-32 at halftime.
"All credit goes to Villanova. They had a culture about them and a way of finding out where the hole or weakness was, and they exploited it," said Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli. ""Today was a chance. There was a canvas in front of us and we were going to paint this picture for today, but this picture's not pretty enough. I don't have any less confidence in my team, but in games like this at that level, you have to identify the weaknesses and then improve on them, because we're going to play this game again. We're going to play this game again against the Ivy League favorite on Friday night. We need to identify our weaknesses."
Despite cooling off from three-point range in the second half (3-for-12), Villanova shot 50 percent from the field in the game. The Hawks connected on 45.3 percent from the field but were just 6-for-18 from beyond the arc.
The teams combined for only 15 turnovers in the game while SJU dished out 18 assists and Villanova had 19.
Prior to the game Bembry was recognized for scoring his 1,000th career point on November 18. SJU fans were also treated to an appearance by former Hawk star and current New York Knick Langston Galloway, who made the presentation of the game ball.
Saint Joseph's plays its first true road game of the year when it visits Columbia on Friday, December 4 in the first-ever meeting of the two schools.
