By PAUL GOTHAM
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Villanova Wildcat head coach Jay Wright acknowledged the previous day that a pressure exists being the top seed in a game matching the No. 1 and No. 16 seed.
His team shouldered that weight early before getting traction in their pursuit of a second straight national title.
Five scored in double figures, and top-seeded Villanova defeated the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers, 76-56 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament’s East Regional at the Key Bank Center, Thursday.
The win was anything but easy. After needing more than six minutes to score their first points, Villanova went into the locker room at halftime leading by one. Both Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart had two fouls apiece, and last year’s NCAA Tournament final hero, Kris Jenkins had yet to connect on a field goal.
“I didn’t think we were capable of that,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said of his team’s start. “I thought we were capable of coming out and, you know, missing some shots, coming out and making some mistakes. But the level of energy we started the game with, I just didn’t think we were capable of that. I’m in a little bit of shock myself.”
Donte DiVincenzo came off the bench and registered his first career double-double to lead Villanova with 21 points and 13 rebounds.
“My job off the bench is just to bring energy, focus on defending and rebounding,” DiVincenzo said. “The offense came tonight after just pushing it on offense, after getting a rebound. So if I just focus on that, all of the offense will come.”
After Mawdo Sallah gave Mount St. Mary’s a 31-30 lead on the first possession of the second half, Villanova scored 13 straight to take a double-digit lead. Mount did not cut the margin to single digits for the remainder of the contest.
“We just, at the end, had more size and some more talented players that just made plays,” Wright said. “We just had bigger, better athletes.”
Brunson added 14 on 7 of 11 shooting. Michael Bridges added 13. Hart had 11, and Eric Paschall 10. Jenkins, who hit the game winner at the buzzer in last year’s NCAA Tournament championship game, finished with seven points on 2-of-13 shooting. The senior forward missed his first 1o shots of the night.
Mount’s Miles Wilson led all scorers with 22. Elijah Long had 10.
Mount St. Mary’s scored the contest’s first seven points and led by as many as eight before Brunson scored his first basket of the game.
“Mount St. Mary’s is a great team,” Brunson said. “We knew going into the game that they have the ability to play the way they did. I mean, they came out shooting the ball, sharing the ball and just playing with great energy. And, I mean, you got to give them credit.”
Junior Robinson and Elijah Long both connected from behind the arc to give Mount St. Mary’s a 10-2 lead. The Mountaineers still led 25-24 when Kris Jenkins drove baseline and fed Eric Paschall in the lane for a slam and Villanova’s first lead of the game at 26-25.
The teams traded leads three times before Brunson’s bucket gave Villanova an edge going into the locker room.
Villanova hit 19 of 30 shots (63.3 percent) in the second half.
Villanova will play the Virginia Tech-Wisconsin winner on Saturday.
Mount Saint Mary’s opened the NCAA Tournament with a 67-66 win over the University of New Orleans in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four.
Villanova held an opponent to 65 points or fewer for the 22nd time this season.
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