Improbable comeback keeps Villanova undefeated

As Ryan Arcidiacono fumbled his dribble along the left sideline with less than 15 seconds remaining and Villanova trailing Syracuse by five, it was difficult to envision a scenario in which the Wildcats could come back to win.

What happened next defied imagination.

Seventh-ranked Villanova forced overtime against all odds and emerged with an 82-77 overtime victory that the Wildcats will talk about for years and the Orange will do their best to forget.

Arcidiacono regained his dribble and spotted a wide-open Josh Hart spotted up on the left wing. Hart buried a 3-pointer to trim the lead to two. Michael Gbinije couldn't find a teammate to inbound the ball to and threw it away trying to get it to Rakeem Christmas. And in the scramble for the ball, Arcidiacono recovered it and fed JayVaugh Pinkston for a layup that forced overtime.

Whatever hope Syracuse had of salvaging a win in overtime vanished quickly when the Orange fell behind. Eleven of Villanova's 13 points in overtime came at the foul line as the Wildcats improved to 11-0 and avenged a loss at the Carrier Dome last season to their former Big East rivals.

Villanova's comeback from a 15-point deficit further cemented that the Wildcats are one of the nation's better teams. They've now beaten Illinois, VCU, Michigan and Syracuse to take an unbeaten record into the start of Big East play next week.

The heroes of Saturday's comeback for Villanova were Pinkston, Hart and Darrun Hilliard, who combined for all but 13 of their team's points. Pinkston tallied 25 points and 10 rebounds against the taller, longer Syracuse interior defense, while Hilliard and Hart scorched the Orange for 23 and 21 points respectively.

Saturday's performance will be bittersweet for a Syracuse team that Jim Boeheim called out in a postgame press conference last weekend and challenged all week in practice. Gbinije and Christmas combined for 36 points and Kaleb Joseph tallied 10 assists to help the Orange score efficiently, but they were undone by committing 20 turnovers and surrendering 15 offensive rebounds.

Syracuse fans will also surely note that the free throw discrepancy didn't help. Christmas, Gbinije and Chris McCullough each fouled out as Villanova went to the foul line 32 times.

Moral victories won't help Syracuse in the long run because what the Orange really need are marquee wins. They fell to 6-4 this season, a far cry from last year's 25-0 start fueled by now departed stars Tyler Ennis, Jerami Grant and Rakeem Christmas.

A huge victory was within reach for Syracuse on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately for the Orange, it slipped through their fingers.

(Thanks for the video, thebiglead.com)

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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