Junior Dominic Cheek strapped the Wildcats on his back and carried them to a 94-92 win over the Israeli Senior National Team on Friday.
Cheek, a Jersey City, N.J. native scored 34 points on 15 of 19 shooting. He also hit all three of his attemps from three-point range.
What can you say about Dominic Cheek?" Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "He was awesome. Against a great offensive team like Israel you have to be able to score and there were times he carried us on offense. I thought Mouphtaou Yarou was a warrior inside for us.
Yarou scored 22 points and gathered 12 rebounds. He also nailed two key free throws in the final seconds, while JayVaughn Pinkston added another to seal the win.
The Wildcats sizzled from the start, shooting 66 percent and built a 56-45 lead at halftime. The Wilcats shot just over 63 percent for the game and held Israel to 50 percent shooting.
I didnt go into this game thinking about putting up a lot of shots," Cheek said. "I went into it trying to play Villanova Basketball, play defense and help my team get the win. I was going to do what my teammates needed me to do.
Coach Wright told us at halftime that this is an experienced team that would make a run at us. He told us to just play Villanova Basketball and not to give in. The most important thing was for us to play 40 minutes and I thought we did that.