WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- No. 15 Purdue kept making No. 3 Villanova hold its breath Monday night.Josh Hart made sure the Wildcats followed the same old beat.The preseason All-America guard scored 24 points, made big shot after big shot and calmly sank the final four free throws of the game to help the defending national champions hang on for a 79-76 victory.Josh just said to me at the beginning of the second half that `we got this, Wildcats coach Jay Wright said. Thats the real strength of this team -- the leadership. I think thats what you saw the start of the second half.Villanova (2-0) has won eight straight games, including the six NCAA Tournament wins that led to last seasons national championship. And as far as early-season victories go, this was about as big as they come.Purdue had won nine straight on its home court and had only lost one previous November game since Matt Painter took over as coach in 2006-07.The difference was Villanova had Hart, who finished three points short of his career high, and the Boilermakers didnt have an answer.We had to do a better job on Josh Hart, Painter said. Their overall toughness is among the best in the country.Purdue sure didnt make it easy on the Wildcats, who made their first seven shots of the second half and charged to a 56-45 lead.The Boilermakers rallied behind Isaac Haas and Caleb Swanigan, who combined for five straight baskets during a flurry that pulled Purdue to 61-60. Haas scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, and Swanigan had 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists.But with Harts shooting and the Wildcats stout defense, the Boilermakers never took the lead, never tied the score and couldnt make either 3-pointer that could have forced overtime in the waning seconds.This game was huge for us, playing a great team, a very disciplined team in that crazy environment, Hart said.Darryl Reynolds had 12 points and eight rebounds for Villanova.BIG PICTUREVillanova: The Wildcats passed their biggest test of November -- barely. Now theyve got five games over the next 15 days, three more by Sunday, to get everything in sync.Purdue: This early test showed the Boilermakers can play with the big boys. Beating them might still be a challenge if they dont find more perimeter shooting.COUNT ITThe Boilermakers erased a 39-34 deficit in the final 40 seconds of the first half with a layup from Swanigan and after Vince Edwards scooped up a loose ball and got it to guard P.J. Thompson, who banked in a buzzer-beating 3 from midcourt to tie it. The crowd went wild long before a replay review confirmed the original call that it counted.RARE AIRPurdue is 12-14 when facing a defending national champ. But having one from outside the Big Ten visit West Lafayette is a rarity. Since hosting UCLA for the opening game on Dec. 2 1967, it had happened only one other time before Monday: Against Louisville on Jan. 18, 1987. UCLA won the first game 73-71, but the Boilermakers beat Louisville 88-73.POLL IMPLCATIONSVillanova: The Wildcats proved theyre worthy of a high ranking with a quality road victory but will be hard-pressed to move up unless No. 1 Duke or No. 2 Kentucky lose.Purdue: The Boilermakers arent likely to slide much, if at all, after coming within a basket or two of upsetting a top-5 team.UP NEXTVillanova: On Thursday, the Wildcats face Western Michigan in Charleston, South Carolina, as they begin chasing a fourth straight in-season tourney title.Purdue: Hosts Georgia State on Friday, marking the return of former IUPUI coach Ron Hunter. The Boilermakers are 24-2 at Mackey Arena over the last 26 games.---More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.orgCheap Custom Hockey Jerseys . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. Custom Hockey Jerseys Outlet . But Bourque, who has missed three games with a lower-body injury, wont be in the lineup when the Habs travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Wednesday. http://www.customjerseyshockey.com/ . -- Running backs Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings were back at practice for the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday despite being hampered by hamstring injuries. Custom Hockey Jerseys China . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . Cheap Custom Hockey Jerseys Free Shipping . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists.Hampshire 213 for 3 (Alsop 117*) trail Surrey 329 (Burns 101, Wheal 4-100) by 116 runs ScorecardIf Hampshire do go down, which they so easily could have done last year and have looked like doing for most of this one, all is not lost. Unlike various sides around them, their direction of travel in Division One - even if it turns out to be too little, too late - is upward; at times in mid-season, they looked one of the weaker sides in recent top-flight memory, a collection of waifs and strays. Now, they look a team with plenty to be optimistic about.Chief among the causes for optimism is 20-year-old Tom Alsop, an organised and stylish batsman, who scored a magnificent maiden first-class century to keep their hopes of survival alive. Hampshire have won twice this season, both against Nottinghamshire; in the first, at the Ageas Bowl, Alsop made his first Championship 50 to anchor the first innings, while at Trent Bridge in August, he made his previous highest score, 93. This innings gives them a mighty fine chance of claiming a third, season-saving win.Conditions for batting - much of the day was baked in sun, and the typically Ovalish pitch seemed to flatten as the ball came on nicely - were much improved. On day one, Surreys eventual 329, topped off before lunch by a roistering unbeaten 41 from Gareth Batty, looked a very fine score. But by the close of the second, Alsop had run Surrey - who largely bowled extremely well - ragged; not only was he dropped twice - at second slip on 72, and at square-leg on 91 - but he was the beneficiary of four overthrows late in the day, too.Alsop came to the crease in trying circumstances, as Tom Curran bowled a magical spell after lunch, beating Jimmy Adams outside edge - from over and round the wicket - numerous times, before finally finding it. Alsop was himself beaten, but soon settled, cleanly cutting Mark Footitt twice through backward point. Anything on his legs was flicked from fine-leg to wide mid-on, while his driving was crisp and precise - all the way from point to down the ground, off front and back foot - too. He raced to 55 in 60 balls, but then as Hampshire lost Will Smith - with whom Alsop shared 92 before Smith edged Footitt behind - then James Vince, he did not score for 40 balls. It was a case of getting through, he said. It requires patience, and Im not always the most patient person so Im pretty pleased to get there.Having done jjust that, he put on a counter-attacking unbroken stand of 88, from another unsteady position, with Sean Ervine, who plopped Batty into the Pavilion for six.dddddddddddd With the weather set fair again, they have the chance to go big on on Thursday.Tom Curran made it very difficult, nipping it away from the lefties, he said, then you have Meaker and Footitt bowling 90 clicks, its pretty difficult whatever the track is. You play some teams and you think you can get through this spell and have a look at the others, but then they bring those two on. Theres no real break.Both in personality and skill (he is also an excellent short leg), it is perfectly clear why Hampshire - who in Mason Crane, Joe Weatherley and the Brads, Taylor and Wheal, have plenty of other talented youngsters - and England rate Alsop so highly. On the back of his maiden List A century, also against Surrey, he jumped the queue to receive a Lions call-up in July and it was hard to believe, watching this innings, at such a vital juncture in his teams season, that it was his first Championship ton.I got close a few weeks back, Alsop said, and you do wonder if youll get another chance, especially with just a few games left this season. I took it ball by ball and am completely over the moon. I really wanted this, and its happened. They say the first ones the hardest and its definitely felt that way.Vinces was an altogether briefer, more confused innings. Few truly believe we have seen the last of him as a Test cricketer; he is, after all, a batsman of immense talent and an impressive character - indeed the youngest current county captain.But before he is to return he must stop edging full, wide deliveries. It is that simple. By all accounts, the great strength of the century that so dazzled James Whittaker - and got him selected for seven Tests this summer despite modest numbers - at Headingley in April was his abstinence, at least until fully settled, from his seductive cover drive.This looked the perfect opportunity for another day of chastity but, having edged short of first slip already, he was roughed up by some short stuff and could not resist the big drive. Ben Foakes, stood a touch wide as if anticipating the gimme, did the rest. It was a mightily slow, almost disbelieving trudge off. ' ' '