Wildcats can't handle SJU's Nelson, West

At 5:50 p.m. -- a full 70 minutes before tip-off -- the dreary, gray east side stands of the Palestra had already been transformed into a tumultuous sea of crimson and gray. Behind Jameer Nelson's game-high 30 points and one deafening soundscape of a fan section, Saint Joseph's handily defeated its hated rival Villanova, 92-75, last night. "I was asked before the game what you can tell the freshmen about the Palestra," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "There's no way you can explain this to a freshman. I tried it last year, and it didn't work. So I didn't even try. You've just got to go through it." Nelson, the city's lone All-America-candidate, put on a show for the sellout crowd. The junior guard poured in 20 first-half points as the Hawks leapt out to a 40-9 first half lead. They never looked back. St. Joe's, who entered last night's game with the nation's second-best scoring defense, used a relentless trapping defense to get its offense going. The Wildcats, on the other hand, were as unlucky as their play was uninspired. They surrendered 16 unanswered points during one first-half stretch and never recovered. After the Hawks won the tip, Nelson drained a three-pointer to open the scoring and immediately get the crowd into the game. With 14:54 remaining in the half and St. Joe's ahead, 13-4, sophomore guard Delonte West entered the game. West, coming off the bench after serving a one-game suspension, immediately silenced the hostile Villanova crowd. Just several feet from their fan section, West jab-stepped defender Allen Ray and calmly buried a three-pointer. On the subsequent possession, West sank a 24-footer to open a 15-point lead. By the 10-minute mark, the Hawks' stingy defense had reduced the high-octane Villanova offense to a frenetic rat race. "It was a team effort, no one guy," Nelson said. "Everybody played off each other. We trapped the ball all over." A tricky Nelson layup in transition upped the lead to 31, and the noise from the Hawk faithful reached a fevered pitch. But even as the Wildcats rallied -- they closed the St. Joe's advantage to 18 with a series of buckets early in the second half -- they repeatedly hurt themselves with fundamental lapses. The highlight of the night came with 8:48 remaining in regulation with the Hawks cruising, 69-45. Overplayed to his right, West drove from the elbow past three Villanova defenders and threw down a monstrous dunk in front of his team's fan section. "They were leaning so heavy on the plays that we were running," West said. "They were overplaying the wings, and I saw the lane open up. It created a seam, and I just did what I do best." West finished with 25 points in 26 minutes of action. Martelli, who hadn't decided that West would play until "10:30 or 11:00 this morning," hadn't shared his decision with the team until just prior to warmups. "He didn't know. None of them knew," Martelli said. "At five minutes to five, I gathered the team in the locker room. I asked him a simple question, if he had everybody in the room's back. He said yes. I asked everybody in the room if they had his back. They said yes, and I said, 'Let's go play.'" Villanova's players were visibly frustrated throughout the second half. At one point, after a questionable offensive foul call, Derrick Snowden slammed the ball to the floor in frustration, nearly drawing a technical from referee Reggie Greenwood. As long as the outcome was in question, Nelson was nothing short of brilliant. Hawks fans stormed the Palestra floor following the final buzzer, celebrating their first victory in the holy war since Dec. 18, 1994. For Martelli, it was his first victory in what is widely considered the city's most heated rivalry. "I don't know if the players knew that," Martelli said. "I never mentioned it."

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