No. 10 Villanova survives scare against Georgetown

VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) — Justin Moore scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half to lead No. 10 Villanova to a 74-66 victory over Georgetown on Saturday.

Brandon Slater added 11 points and Caleb Daniels and Eric Dixon each had 10 for Villanova (21-6, 14-3 Big East), which has won five in a row.

Donald Carey scored 24 and Dante Harris added 16 for Georgetown (6-20, 0-15), which remained winless in the Big East while losing its 16th game in a row.

The Wildcats didn't need any heroics from Collin Gillespie this time, like in Tuesday's 89-84 victory at No. 8 Providence when the Big East Preseason Player of the Year scored a career-high 33 points and hit a key 3-pointer late.

But things weren't as easy for the Wildcats as might have been expected.

Georgetown hit consecutive 3-pointers to open the second half to trim Villanovas 10-point halftime advantage to four. And the Hoyas would get as close as three twice more, the last on Carey's 3 with 8:22 left that pulled them within 56-53 to cap an 11-3 spurt.

But the Hoyas went cold and Villanova took control from there, scoring 10 of the next 14 points to go comfortably ahead 66-57 on Moore's three-point play with 4:19 left.

Gillespie, Villanova's leading scorer who entered averaging 16.8 points per game, scored nine.

It was the 91st meeting between the longtime Big East rivals, with the victory giving Villanova a 46-45 edge in the series.

Villanova looked like they were going to run away from the Hoyas early, building a 16-5 lead 10 ½ minutes into the contest. But the Wildcats couldn't hit from the outside, and Georgetown closed within 19-18 on Carey's 3-pointer with 4:14 left in the first half. But the Wildcats ended the period on a 13-4 run to enter the break ahead 32-22.

It was far from the prettiest opening 20 minutes for the Wildcats, as their two leading scorers – Gillespie and Moore – combined to miss 13 of 15 field goals. But Georgetown couldn’t find the mark either, going 8 of 29 from the field and 3 of 14 from 3-point range.

BIG PICTURE

Georgetown: The Hoyas have long been guaranteed their fifth non-winning conference record in as many seasons under coach Patrick Ewing. Ewing, who took over beginning in 2017-18, owns a 26-59 mark in Big East play. Once-dominant Georgetown will try to avoid its first-ever winless season in the league with a victory over DePaul on Thursday. After that, they'll have a tough three-game stretch to finish the regular season, hosting UConn before contests at Seton Hall and Xavier.

Villanova: Vying for their eighth regular-season Big East title, the Wildcats have a challenging three-game stretch to finish the season, beginning on Tuesday at No. 24 UConn. That will be followed by a visit from league-leading Providence, which likely will be smarting after Villanova's road victory on Tuesday.

UP NEXT

Georgetown: Host DePaul on Thursday.

Villanova: At No. 24 UConn on Tuesday.

___

More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25