Yet, somehow, you still had that feeling.
And sure enough, the Colonials managed one basket the rest of the way, with 17 seconds left. It was their second of the closing 8 minutes, and by then it was too late, despite the fact it got them to within three. Five seconds later, Khalif Wyatt made two free throws. At 4.1 seconds, Ramone Moore canned two more. And the Owls, with a 50-point second half that included 17 in the final 4 minutes and change, had a 79-72 victory at the Liacouras Center that kept them alone atop the Atlantic 10 standings.
They knew they probably didn't deserve to win. Doesn't matter.
"We were very fortunate," said Fran Dunphy, whose team will next host preseason favorite Xavier on Saturday night. "If you're going to have a good year, there's going to be a couple where you get lucky. This is one of them.
"You don't want to rely on this kind of performance by your team. You can be tough at the start [too]."
Duly noted. The Owls (18-5, 7-2 A-10) started without Wyatt, who missed a study hall this week. He finished with 22 points in 28 minutes, including nine in that late spurt. He took only nine shots, but made 12 of 13 at the foul line.
"I tried not to let [the benching] affect me, but maybe it did early on," he acknowledged. "My teammates kept encouraging me. I had to put it behind me and try to win. When we [finally] got some stops, it led to easy baskets.
"I try to read how they're guarding me. If they play tight, I'm going by them. If they give me space, I'll shoot the jump shot. I just try to make the best play. We knew we were going to have a run. When we made our run, we made it. We showed some toughness down the stretch. That's good for us."
