Saddiq Bey scored 23 points, Justin Moore added 21 and No. 12 Villanova held off visiting St. John's 71-60 on Wednesday.

Jermaine Samuels contributed 10 rebounds, while Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had seven points and eight rebounds for the Wildcats (22-6, 11-4 Big East).

Villanova won its fifth in a row.

Marcellus Earlington and Rasheem Dunn paced St. John's with 12 points each, while Greg Williams Jr. and Julian Champagnie had 10 apiece for the Red Storm (14-14, 3-12).

St. John's dropped its third straight and continued to rack up losses without injured second-leading scorer Mustapha Heron, who could miss the rest of the season.

Bey's third 3-pointer put Villanova ahead 21-12 with 10:11 remaining in the first half.

Earlington provided six early points off the bench to keep St. John's within 24-18.

Samuels then responded with a jumper to extend the Wildcats' advantage to eight with 5:43 left.

St. John's head coach Mike Anderson was whistled for a technical foul with 3:12 to go and Collin Gillespie dropped in both for a 35-22 lead.

But the Red Storm came back with a 10-0 spurt to cut the lead to 35-32.

Villanova took a 36-34 advantage at halftime thanks primarily to Bey's 14 points.

St. John's quickly tied the score early in the second before the Wildcats bolted to a 10-0 run for a 46-36 lead with 16:12 left.

Champagnie broke the run with a difficult driving layup and foul for a three-point play to close St. John's within seven. When Williams knocked down a long jumper from the wing, the deficit was 48-43 with 12:47 remaining.

Gillespie, who missed 10 of his first 11 shots, hit a jumper for a 56-51 Villanova lead with 6:52 left. Robinson-Earl then made four straight free throws for a nine-point advantage.

With the Red Storm trailing 65-56, LJ Figueroa missed a 3-pointer for St. John's and Moore came back with a layup and a jumper for a 69-56 lead with 1:51 left.

--Field Level Media