Philadelphia ? Allan Ray scored 19 points, and No. 3 Villanova withstood a 24-7 run late in the second half to beat pesky Penn, 62-55, Tuesday night at the Palestra.

Randy Foye scored 16 points, and Mike Nardi had 14 for the Wildcats (7-0), who got off to a shaky start in the first of three straight games against their Big 5 city rivals before opening the Big East season at No. 4 Louisville on Jan. 5.

The Quakers (3-4) put quite a scare into Villanova’s first 7-0 start since 1995-96.

With top reserve Steve Danley out with a concussion and leading scorer Ibrahim Jaaber held to one point in the first half, the Quakers found themselves down by 21 early in the second.

Then Jaaber got rolling, the Wildcats couldn’t buy a basket, and this turned into another city-series classic.

No. 4 Louisville 78, Chicago State 54

Louisville, Ky. – Taquan Dean scored 21 points, and Louisville overcame a lethargic first half to pull away for the win at Freedom Hall.

Louisville's Perrin Johnson looks for a teammate to pass to as Chicago State's Camron Clay defends. The No. 4 Cardinals won Tuesday night's game in Louisville, Ky., 78-54.

Former Kansas University center David Padgett added 12 points and eight rebounds for Louisville (6-0).

David Holston scored 17 points for the Cougars (1-6), who were playing their seventh straight road game to start the season.

Brandon Jenkins scored 14 points, and Terrence Williams added 11 for Louisville, which took an 18-4 lead only to see the Cougars rally behind Holston and guard Royce Parran and take a 29-28 lead.

DePaul 84, No. 16 Wake Forest 81

Winston-Salem, N.C. – Sammy Mejia scored a season-high 24 points – including a basket to answer a late Wake Forest run in the final seconds – and DePaul snapped the Demon Deacons’ 21-game home winning streak.

Draelon Burns added a career-high 22 points in his first start of the season for the Blue Demons (5-3), who beat an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent for the first time in five years.

Eric Williams scored 24 points for the Demon Deacons (7-2), who hadn’t played since Dec. 3. Mejia, who came in averaging a team-high 14 points, was 9-for-15 from the field with three three-pointers. He also played tough defense against Wake Forest’s Justin Gray, an all-ACC performer who finished with 12 points on 3-for-11 shooting.

No. 20 Nevada 83, Seattle Pacific 57

Reno, Nev. – Mo Charlo scored 18 points, and Nick Fazekas added 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead Nevada.

Marcelus Kemp added 10 points for the Wolf Pack (7-1), who are off to their best start since 1978.

Robbie Will had 17 points and eight rebounds for Seattle Pacific (5-1), which is ranked fifth nationally in NCAA Div. II.

Charlo was 7-of-10 from the field and made all three of his three-point attempts. He scored 10 points in the first eight minutes as Nevada opened an 18-10 lead.