With the plucky Jesuit school holding a 61-60 lead, Kanacevic bricked both of his attempts, and on the next trip down the floor, Bell connected from long distance to give the hosts a two-point edge.
Then, coming out of a timeout, Kanacevic was in charge of the inbounds pass along the right sideline, and, boxed in, attempted to bounce the ball off a 'Nova defender's leg, but the pass ricocheted back off his own leg for a change of possession.
"It's a numbers game. Eighteen turnovers with a veteran group and 68 percent from the foul line," said Hawks head coach Phil Martelli. "In the past few games we've had more turnovers than assists and we have too many skilled players for that to be the case. Not only the turnovers, but some of the decisions just weren't there."
Ronald Roberts was forced to foul on the ensuing possession, and Bell sank the deciding shots from the charity stripe.
Villanova (6-4) improved to 2-1 in its Big 5 slate, following a 77-74 overtime loss to La Salle on November 25 and a 68-55 win over Penn last Saturday. Bell and JayVaughn Pinkston totaled 12 points each, while Achraf Yacoubou added nine points and seven boards.
Langston Galloway paced all players with 22 points thanks to 6-for-10 shooting beyond the arc and Carl Jones added 16 points with five assists and two steals for St. Joseph's (5-3), which won't have another city series game until January 19 in the Palestra against the Quakers.
The visitors scored the first five points of the contest, but 'Nova countered with a 10-3 run to take a slim lead.
A trey from Darrun Hilliard extended the Wildcats' edge to 17-11 before seven in a row restored the St. Joe's edge. Galloway's two from the line capped another surge and left the Hawks up 24-19, and after Jones sank two from the line with 1:57 left in the first half, the City Line squad held a 31-26 lead.
But Villanova struck back with the final seven points before intermission on a free throw from Tony Chennault then back-to-back triples from Bell and Ryan Arcidiacono.
The Wildcats led by five early in the second half, but the Hawks rallied to take a 50-47 lead on a Kanacevic trey with 9:50 remaining. Following the play, Kanacevic appeared to give the middle finger to the Villanova student section, who lustily booed each successive time he touched the ball for the rest of the night. Momentum swung once again in the hosts' favor as Pinkston's three-point play punctuated six in a row from 'Nova to make it a 53-50 game with 8:12 to play.
Galloway's sixth and final shot from beyond the arc produced a 61-56 advantage for St. Joseph's with 2:13 showing, then Bell converted two free throws and Daniel Ochefu connected on a layup for a one-point spread inside the final 30 seconds.
“I think this is the third time he’s done that this year. I can’t remember the games, but I know that he has done it a lot already. The kid’s got guts, he really does and he does all the little things for our team, he’s a leader for our team, a lot of guts and I do love having him on our side," said Villanova head coach Jay Wright about his junior guard.
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