BUFFALO, N. Dee Ford Kids Jersey .Y. -- That hangover from the Big East tournament is gone for Villanova. Darrun Hilliard scored 16 points, JayVaughn Pinkston added 13 and the Wildcats beat Milwaukee 73-53 on Thursday night in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Villanova (29-4), the No. 2 seed in the East Region, will play seventh-seeded Connecticut (27-8) in the third round Saturday. The Huskies held off Saint Josephs 89-81 in overtime. No. 15 seed Milwaukee (21-14), the surprise champion of the Horizon League, made it a game all the way, leading much of the first half before fading late. Villanova was eager to get back on the court after being upset last week by Seton Hall in the Big East quarterfinals, but the effect of that loss seemed to linger. A 14-point run spanning halftime gave the Wildcats a nine-point lead early in the second half and they held on. Hilliards long 3-pointer from the top of the key with 8:10 left gave them a 53-42 advantage, and the Panthers couldnt recover. James Bell had 12 points for Villanova on 5-of-14 shooting and missed all eight 3s he attempted. Kris Jenkins and Josh Hart each scored 11. Austin Arians had 17 points to lead Milwaukee and Matt Tiby scored 10. Jordan Aaron, Milwaukees leading scorer, finished with six points, all in the second half, on 1-of-15 shooting. Kyle Kelm, second in scoring, had eight points, all after the break. The Panthers rags-to-riches march into the tourney ended, but not without a fight. Villanova outscored Milwaukee 46-20 in the paint and had 19 fast-break points to overcome a woeful 4-for-23 shooting performance from behind the arc. After struggling mightily, Villanova scored the final nine points of the first half and the first five of the second. Pinkstons three-point play and follow gave Villanova a 32-23 lead. Kelms first basket of the game, a layup off the glass, stopped a scoreless skid that had lasted more than 6 minutes and cut the lead to seven. After Aaron missed an open 3, Hart countered with a three-point play for Villanova and Jenkins followed with a 3 in transition after blocking a shot by JeVon Lyle at the other end. That gave the Wildcats a 42-33 lead midway through the half. Villanova extended the margin to 55-44 on Harts layup with 7:19 left, and the Panthers never got closer than nine the rest of the way. Milwaukee closed the season with five straight wins, including a surprising overtime win over preseason favourite Green Bay in the Horizon Conference tournament, to surpass the 20-win plateau. Not bad for a team that finished 8-24 a year ago. Milwaukees 13-win increase was the best year-to-year improvement in the country, and the Panthers were the only team in the NCAA tournament that finished last in its league a year ago. They showed they belonged on the big stage, too, leading a team ranked in the top 10 for much of the first half. Both defences swarmed right from the opening tip. The Panthers missed their first six shots, getting one of them blocked, and fell behind 6-0. Even high attempts off the glass on drives misfired as the Wildcats tried to set the tone early despite faltering from the field. Halfway through the first half, Villanova led 10-8, the teams were a combined 6 for 29, and the Wildcats were scoreless on five tries from behind the arc. Clearly, the Panthers werent intimidated by the Big East regular-season champions, and J.J. Panoske hit an open 3 from the left wing to give Milwaukee a surprising 13-10 lead with 8 minutes left in the period. The Panthers play in the Wisconsin style that coach Bo Ryan brought to Milwaukee before he took over the Badgers, whipping the ball around looking for the open man. After Bells steal and slam gave Nova a 16-15 lead, a wide-open Arians hit consecutive 3-pointers from the right side for a 21-16 lead with 4:52 left as the Panthers fans cheered. The Wildcats finally settled down, holding the Panthers scoreless for the final 4:05 of the period. Hilliards three-point play tied it at 23, and a driving layup by Bell and a slam dunk by Pinkston put Villanova back on top. Villanova went into the break with a 27-23 lead despite missing all 12 attempts from behind the arc, six by Bell. Villanova averaged nine 3s per game this season and shot 36.1 per cent from long range, but the Wildcats allowed opponents to hit 35.4 per cent of their 3-pointers and the Panthers took advantage, hitting five before the break to stay in the game. Milwaukee relies a lot on Aaron, its leading scorer at 15 points per game. He had four assists and four rebounds but failed to score in the first half, missing seven shots. Kelm, averaging 12.6 points, also went scoreless. Zach Fulton Kids Jersey . -- Aldon Smith believes he is on the path to being sober for good. Phillip Gaines Chiefs Jersey . The Reds won for the 12th time in 17 games and extended their NL Central lead over Pittsburgh to three games. The second-place Pirates lost for only the third time in their last 11 games. Cueto (6-3) left with a 5-1 lead in the eighth. Andrew McCutchen hit a three-run homer off Logan Ondrusek two pitches later. (Sports Network) - The return of Albert Pujols was delayed a game, but the St. Louis Cardinals were fine without him. Pujols was activated off of the disabled list Tuesday, but was a spectator in an 8-1 drubbing of the NL Central-rival Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals will shoot for a three-game sweep this evening at Busch Stadium with Pujols set to return to the lineup. Pujols, a three-time National League MVP and nine-time All-Star, had been on the DL for only 15 days because of a fractured left wrist suffered in a collision at first base versus Kansas City on June 19. The St. Louis slugger was hitting .279 with 17 homers and 45 RBI in 73 games at the time of his injury and watched two of his teammates give Reds starter Edinson Volquez a hard time. Matt Holliday homered twice and finished with four RBI, while Lance Berkman continued to shine with a solo shot for the Cardinals, who lead the NL Central by 1 1/2 games ahead of Pittsburgh, two games in front of Milwaukee and four games ahead of the Reds. Berkman homered for the fifth time in six games and has 350 for his career. Holliday seemed more excited that Pujols will be back in the lineup. Its great. I think tomorrow well roll out the team that we thought our team would look like for most of the season. Its exciting, said Holliday, who will compete in next weeks Home Run Derby as part of the All-Star Game festivities. Ryan Theriot drove in a pair of runs and starting pitcher Jaime Garcia delivered six innings of one-run ball and four strikeouts for the win (8-3). Lance Lynn tossed two scoreless innings of relief and Mitchell Boggs survived a shaky ninth in which he walked three and fanned two batters for St. Louis, which has won six of eight games and will also host Arizona for four games on the current homestand. Jake Westbrook tossed six shutout innings in a 3-0 win over Cincinnati on April 24 at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals hope he can do that again when he takes the mound tonight. Westbrook lifted his career mark against the Reds to 2-1 with a 3.13 ERA in six games ((5 starts), while he has won five of his last six decisions, including last Fridays 5-3 victory at Tampa Bay in which he hurled seven scoreless frames and fanned seven batters. Aaron Murray Jersey. Westbrook, a right-hander, is 7-4 with a 4.92 ERA in 17 outings this season, but just 2-2 in eight trips to the Busch Stadium mound. Cincinnati hopes to avoid the sweep and has lost two straight and four of five games. Volquez didnt do much to help his team on the mound last night, as he was touched for seven runs -- six earned -- and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. I guess if you miss your location, especially to their big boys over there, its going to hurt you, said Reds manager Dusty Baker. Scott Rolen brought in the Reds lone run on a groundout in the fourth inning, while Rolen, Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips finished 1-for-14 combined with a run scored and an RBI. Phillips scored on Rolens groundout. Bruce has gone 0-for-4 in back-to-back games and has one hit over his last six games, going 1-for-22 in that stretch. The Reds will head to Milwaukee for four games after their stint in the Gateway City and are counting on veteran Bronson Arroyo to bounce back into the win column when he takes center stage tonight. Arroyo had won three straight and four of five starts before losing to Cleveland in Fridays 8-2 setback, as he was rocked for eight runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 frames. Arroyo fell to 7-7 with a 5.49 ERA in 17 starts and will face St. Louis for the second time this season. In a 6-5 Cincinnati win on May 13, the righty was reached for four runs -- three earned -- and six hits in six innings. He has plenty of experience going against the division-rival Cards and is 7-11 with a 4.57 ERA in 28 career games, 26 of which have been starts. Arroyo has made seven starts on the road in 2011, going 4-1 with a lofty 5.72 ERA. The Reds and Cardinals have split eight games this season after Cincinnati lost 12 of 18 meetings a year ago. The Cardinals have won 10 of the last 13 encounters with Cincinnati at Busch Stadium. ' ' '
