So they gave it to their guy, Scottie Reynolds, knowing they were either going to take it in regulation, or go to overtime. How could there be anything else?
Reynolds drove to the right baseline, got caught in traffic, maybe drew contact, and as he was falling out of bounds tried to pass to Antonio Pena in the lane. But it got deflected. And after a scramble, it bounced into the hands of Georgetown's Jonathan Wallace, who started to dribble the other way. And got bumped by Villanova freshman Corey Stokes, about 70 feet from the basket.
"I wanted to take it strong, make sure we got the last shot or a tip-in," Reynolds said. "I didn't want to [settle for a jumper] too early in the [shot] clock. In my head, I thought we were going into overtime. The rest is history."
Veteran official Bob Donato, from Delaware County, blew his whistle and raised his arm. With 1/10th of a second showing. And a Villanova squad that had lost to North Carolina State on a controversial foul call with 2/10ths of a second remaining in late November again was forced to watch helplessly as another opponent made two free throws to beat them. This time, by a score of 55-53.
"Honestly, I didn't see it," said coach Jay Wright, whose team ended a five-game losing streak 2 nights earlier at home against
Seton Hall. "I can't even complain. I thought [regulation play] was over."
The Wildcats (14-9, 4-7 Big East), who also missed their first seven shots to start the game, could have gone to St. John's on Saturday with a chance to get back to .500 in the conference. Instead . . .
"It's no moral victory or anything," Wright said. "But we played better. I think we're learning. That's what we have to go through. That's going to be our journey this year."
