Field Level Media
Mar 3, 2018
Mikal Bridges scored 24 points and fourth-ranked Villanova defeated Georgetown 97-73 in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Jalen Brunson added 16 for the Wildcats, who improved to 27-4 overall and 14-4 in the Big East. Donte DiVincenzo contributed 15, while Omari Spellman and Eric Paschall added 13 apiece for Villanova.
Villanova clinched the No. 2 seed in the Big East tournament. It had a chance to tie Xavier, but the Musketeers defeated DePaul 65-62 earlier on Saturday to secure the top seed with a 15-3 conference record.
Villanova had won the past four Big East regular-season championships.
The victory did give Villanova head coach Jay Wright his 413th career victory with the program. The milestone win tied Wright with Alexander Severance, who compiled 413 victories from 1936-61.
Jessie Govan led Georgetown (15-14, 5-13) with a career-high 30 points to go along with eight rebounds to narrowly miss a double-double while Jamorko Pickett added 10 points.
Govan still has 14 double-doubles, which ranks second in the Big East behind only Seton Hall's Angel Delgado. They are the only two players in the league to average double-doubles.
The Hoyas were shorthanded without injured forward Marcus Derrickson, who had been averaging 15.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
Bridges drained a 3-pointer from the baseline, giving Villanova a 56-42 lead with 14:51 remaining.
Villanova kept shooting well, and Paschall's deep trey pushed its lead to 66-51 with 10:15 left.
Jahvon Blair did hit a 3-pointer to get the Hoyas within 69-58, forcing Wright to call timeout.
But the Wildcats responded thanks in large part to Bridges, who knocked down a 3-pointer to cap a 10-0 run and elevate their advantage to 84-62 with 5:49 remaining.
Villanova broke open a close game with a late surge at the end of the first half to take a 44-31 lead into the locker room.
Bridges led all scorers with 14 points.
Georgetown shot just 11 of 32 overall in the half and missed all nine of its 3-point attempts.
The Hoyas missed 10 of their last 11 shots in the first half.
--Field Level Media