Antonio Pena has a double-double in the Wildcats win

These two bitter rivals might only be separated by 6.7 miles on your GPS but the St. Joe’s Hawks still have miles to go to catch 12^th ranked Villanova. The Wildcats proved as much by winning the Holy War 71-60 in the Big Five opener for both teams before a spirited crowd on Friday at The Pavilion.

The ‘Cats (6-1) had four players in double figures with Corey Stokes leading the way with 17. Corey Fisher, Dominic Cheek and Antonio Pena each had 14; Pena grabbed 14 rebounds while Fisher got credit for eight assists. The Hawks Carl Jones had a game-high 19.

“That’s what’s great about having seniors,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said referring to the play of Stokes, Fisher and Pena, “I think that was the difference.”

St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli can only dream of the day when he has three seniors contribute like the Villanova trio did. The Hawks (3-4) start three freshmen and only have three upperclassmen on the roster.

“If the world was aligned properly,” Martelli said, “they would be playing behind older, experienced guys. They’re not, they’re needed.”

Things started out well for the Hawks, the led early but a 14 to 4 run put Villanova up by seven. By the midpoint of the half, St. Joe’s had cut it to a two-point deficit but the Wildcats would outscore them 18 to 10 the rest of the way and were up 38-28 at halftime.

In the first five-and-a-half minutes of the second half, the ‘Cats would extend their lead to 21 and it would remain in double digits for the rest of the way except for a brief period when it was reduced to nine in the final minute of the game.

Martelli took no comfort in the fact that the Hawks, who play at Ivy League favorite Princeton on Sunday then host nationally-ranked Minnesota on Wednesday, fought back.

“A bunch of Jay’s friends just told me in the hallway that we played hard,” Martelli said. “Whenever you’re a coach and they tell you that your team played hard, what they’re telling you is you stink, you’re not good enough. Playing hard is a euphemism for ain’t good enough.”

The Wildcats have a pair of Big Five games on tap, they play at The Palestra on Wednesday against Penn then visit La Salle next Sunday.

E-mail Rock Hoffman at Rdvsports@yahoo.com