Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) – Maalik Wayns had 17 points, Corey Fisher scored 16 and 12th-ranked Villanova pulled away to beat No. 25 West Virginia, 66-50, at Wells Fargo Center.
Mouphtaou Yarou finished with 11 points and six rebounds for the Wildcats (19-4, 7-3 Big East), who have won two games in a row after consecutive losses to Providence and Georgetown.
Kevin Jones tallied 16 points to pace the Mountaineers (15-7, 6-4), who were aiming for their third straight win.
West Virginia raced out to a 10-4 lead, but the Wildcats responded with a 17-4 surge. Fisher nailed a three-pointer to cap the run and put Villanova ahead 21-14, and the home team led 30-19 at halftime after a Wayns trey.
The Mountaineers trimmed their deficit to 36-33 on a John Flowers jumper a little over four minutes into the second frame. That’s as close as West Virginia got the rest of the way.
Moments later, Wayns made a layup to ignite a 7-0 burst that increased the Wildcats’ lead to 52-40. A Yarou dunk stretched the margin to 64-43 with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.
Antonio Pena posted 10 points and four rebounds for Villanova, which shot 54.3 percent from the floor, including a sizzling 70 percent in the second half, and made 7-of-14 three-pointers…Flowers totaled 15 points…West Virginia was limited to 35.8 percent shooting and converted only 5-of-12 free throws.