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The Villanova Wildcats managed to erase a second half, 14-point deficit and defeated American University 80-67. Despite Nova's slow start and the Eagles early success from 3-point range, the Wildcats were able to outlast their 14th ranked opponent to advance to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament.

American University appeared to open the game much looser than the 3rd seeded Wildcats and used 8 of 15 shooting from 3-point range in the first half to take a ten point lead into halftime. However, it was not to be for AU. After going down by 14 early in the second half, Villanova tightened up their defense and slowly took control of the game. American led by 12 with a little over eleven minutes to play in the game but 'Nova continued to battle and it became clear that American was slowly wearing out. The Wildcats received 25-point performances from Dwayne Anderson and Dante Cunningham and in the end were able to outlast the Eagles and advance past the first round of the tournament for the fourth time in five years. Villanova will play 6th seeded, UCLA on Saturday in an attempt to advance to the Sweet 16.