Whitmore impresses in Villanova’s 70-59 win over Penn

The holiday spirits were high, as fans and students alike were dressed in their holiday garb and gathered around to watch Santa Claus help perform the national anthem in front of a jam-packed Finneran Pavilion for an old-school Big 5 battle between Villanova and Penn on Wednesday night.

Although the crowd’s energy was high to begin the game, the Wildcats energy was certainly lacking behind to start, but things quickly changed as the Wildcats eventually got going, furthered by a spark from Cam Whitmore off the bench, en route to a 70-59 win over the Quakers.

The Quakers, much like the rest of the teams Villanova has faced in the early-season slate, started off the game hot. A Max Martz dunk gave Penn a 16-11 lead with 10:34 to go, the Quakers’ largest lead of the game.

Just before the under-eight media timeout, a Mark Armstrong block led to a transition Brendan Hausen three, and the freshman-to-freshman connection lit a spark under the Wildcats tails.

Villanova would finish the first half on a prolonged 22-10 run, which gave them a 36-26 halftime lead.

Penn would threaten coming out of the break, cutting the deficit down to as low as six, before this thunderous Cam Whitmore dunk brought the house down.

Four Wildcats finished in double figures. Whitmore paced the Wildcats with 21 points on 7-of-13 (53.8%) shooting, while also grabbing six rebounds and two assists. Eric Dixon chipped in 12 points in only 13 minutes due to foul trouble, while Caleb Daniels finished with 12 points and a team high plus-minus rating of +21. Brandon Slater also finished with 10 points.

For Penn, Jordan Dingle had 23 of 25 points in the second half alone. He also finished with nine rebounds. Martz added 15 points of his own on 7-of-11 (63.6%) shooting.

Full recap, with quotes, will be available shortly.