near the end of the first half for a 28-15 lead.

VILLANOVA, Pa. -- Patrick Farrell missed his first free throw, and was off on his second. With only 19 seconds left in the game, the pressure was on for Farrell to make the third. The Villanova fans stood and cheered, and his teammates were stoked, yelling from the bench at the sophomore forward that the final one would be good. Farrell practiced his motion, took a breath, released, and watched as the basketball bounced twice around the rim before it plopped through the net. The eighth-ranked Wildcats went wild, celebrating Farrells first point of the season like a game-winner, and not just the finishing touches of a 67-48 victory over Butler on Wednesday night. For a team that played about 30 minutes of basketball to forget, that moment of team bonding for the deepest of deep reserves was one to remember. "I love that," coach Jay Wright said. "Thats whats special about this team." The Wildcats (25-3, 13-2 Big East) survived one of their worst halves of the season to win for the ninth time in 10 games. They needed almost the first 10 minutes of the game to score 10 points, missed eight of their first nine 3-point attempts, and didnt have a player reach double digits in scoring until midway through the second half. "Youve got to find a way to grind against them," Wright said. "Ill take that." Darrun Hilliard and James Bell led them with only 11 points each and the Wildcats put up the kind of numbers that usually lead to a loss. Not against the lowly Bulldogs (12-16, 2-14). Butler was even worse, shooting only 26 per cent in the first half, and the Bulldogs lost their seventh straight game. The Wildcats had a small hot streak at the end of the first half, making 5 of 6 shots, to build enough of a cushion and slowly pull away. The Wildcats fell shy of their 79.9 points per game average and played for about 35 minutes looking nothing like the team that has become one of the best in the Big East. Each team took turns trading clunkers and clangers in the first 10 minutes, one reason the Wildcats only led 10-4. With 6 minutes left in the half, the Bulldogs and Wildcats combined for only 26 points. And no, Bo Ryan wasnt coaching either of the teams. The Pavilion had all the atmosphere of an art museum on a sleepy Sunday morning, making this one feel more like a bad NBA preseason game than the final on-campus home game of the season. Wright did let senior reserves Nick McMahon and Tony Chennault start -- though McMahon played only 20 seconds before he was benched for Ryan Arcidiacono. McMahon couldnt have been worse than the rest of the offence. Villanova missed 12 of its first 15 shots, most from 3-point range. The Wildcats were determined to keep shooting 3s until they fell. Bell and Arcidiacono did hit two straight near the end of the first half for a 28-15 lead. Butlers Kellen Dunham buried the shot of the game with a high banker for 3 that cut it to 34-20 at halftime. He led Butler with 12 points. Hard to believe these teams needed overtime before Villanova pulled out the win in their first matchup. "We didnt have it tonight," coach Brandon Miller said. "When you keep getting the results you dont want, it weighs on you a little bit." Bell was the lone senior regular for the Wildcats and exchanged an emotional hug with Wright after he checked out for the final time. "It was tough," Bell said. "I dont see my mom that much. My dad works a lot, doesnt really get the chance to get down that much. That was probably the toughest part, seeing my mom crying. Other than that, it was time to play." Pick a stat in the first half and both teams probably wish the number could be wiped from the record book. Butler missed 8 of 10 3s; Nova missed 12 of 16. Butler had two starters who went scoreless in the half. The Wildcats shot 38 per cent from the field. But theres a reason the Wildcats have spent most of the season in the Top 25, and they showed why in the second half, going more than 25 minutes without a turnover during a 16-3 run that stretched the lead to 24 points. Butler scored six baskets in the first half, and didnt reach seven for a second-half total until there was 1:51 left. While the Wildcats are in the hunt for a top-three seed in the NCAA tournament, the Bulldogs need a shocking conference tournament championship to have any shot at returning for some March Madness. "This is a really good group to coach," Wright said. "Its been a pleasure all year. But it cant let that prevent us from driving them and them driving themselves to get better." C.J. McCollum Jersey . Fifth-seeded Cilic gained his fourth title in Zagreb and became the third Croat overall to win at least 10 career titles. Cilic also lifted his career record in Zagreb to 22-4, winning 20 of his last 21 matches at the event. Damian Lillard Jersey .35 million. The right-hander had agreed last February to a deal that pays him $3.775 million this year and allows him to earn an additional $225,000 in bonuses based on games finished. http://www.blazersteamofficial.com/customized/. With the Rangers already leading 2-0, Carey Price was taken down early in the second period of New Yorks 7-2 pounding of the Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final on Saturday afternoon. Evan Turner Jersey . Ramirez is still hitting behind Puig, only now they are in the third and fourth spots, and the change is starting to generate positive results for manager Don Mattingly. Bill Walton Jersey .J. Ward appeared in court Friday on misdemeanour charges that he threw a glass mug at a bartender at a Denver strip club.MINSK, Belarus - Olaf Eller watched from afar on his computer as his son Lars and the Montreal Canadiens lost Game 5 to the Boston Bruins, and he didnt believe the series would end well. That changed after talking to his 25-year-old son that night. "He is always very honest," Olaf Eller said Thursday at the world hockey championship. "So I was a little bit surprised when I got the strong feeling from him that they would win that series. After Game 5, he was very clear and very sharp: Were gonna win that thing. That was not the opinion I had after Game 5. "After Game 5, I didnt think they would win. But he said, We are all very sure that were gonna run them out." Run them out, the Habs did 4-0 in Game 6 before finishing off the Bruins with a 3-1 victory in Game 7 on Wednesday night. That was not a result Eller, coach of Denmarks junior team, could have predicted earlier this week. But he felt OK going into the series, based on this past regular season. "You could see during the season that they had the assets, the tools," said Eller, who is in Minsk as a member of the Danish teams support staff. "You could see that in the games against Boston during the season, they were able to play a good game against Boston. ... I had a feeling that if they could come around Tampa, I had the feeling they could beat Boston." Its not easy for Eller and his wife to be in Minsk right now. In addition to Lars being in the East final that begins Saturday against the New York Rangers, 18-year-old son Mads is in the Memorial Cup with the Edmonnton Oil Kings.dddddddddddd Olaf Eller finds a way to watch all the games on his computer from in Europe — he only missed one game of the Habs-Bruins series — and talks to Lars after each one. The post-Game 7 conversation was a particularly enjoyable one. "He was very, very happy," Eller said of his son. "They were in the bus on their way to the airport, so everybody was very happy." Lars Eller has nine points through 11 games, leading Montreal forwards in scoring and trailing just star defenceman P.K. Subban. His father is proud of how his son rebounded from a rough regular season. "He managed to start another season, show that the post-season is another season and he has been good in the playoffs," said Olaf Eller, who plans to go to Montreal if the Habs reach the Stanley Cup final. Beyond just being a hockey dad, Eller is the coach of Esbjerg IK in Denmarks top hockey league. Because of that, he has an appreciation for the adjustments Montreal coach Michel Therrien and his staff made in these playoffs to get to this point. Eller praised Therrien for shuffling Daniel Briere, Brandon Prust, Travis Moen, Francis Bouillon, Douglas Murray and Nathan Beaulieu in and out of the lineup at the right times. "I think the coaching staff, by their analyzing of their opponents, by their ability to adjust the team in the lineup from game-to-game ... made a huge success there," he said. 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