Dylan Ennis and JayVaughn Pinkston each had 14 as Villanova (25-2, 12-2 Big East) extended its winning streak to eight games.Jajuan Johnson scored 20 points and Luke Fischer added 17 points for Marquette (11-15, 3-11), which dropped its third straight and slipped to 0-6 against ranked teams this season.
Sandy Cohen (Oneida Tribe) added 7 points and 2 assists in 29 minutes of play.
Riding the momentum of a first-half run, Villanova took charge early in the second half.
Arcidiacono hit his first three 3-pointers and Pinkston made a fastbreak layup to push Villanova’s 43-34 halftime lead to 54-38 with just two minutes gone.
Villanova maintained a comfortable double-digit lead for most of the second half, withstanding every Marquette attempt at an upset. In the closing minutes, Duane Wilson got Marquette to nine twice on two free throws and, moments later, a three-pointer, but that’s as close as they got.
Neither team could pull away in the first half until a brief bit of chippiness between Marquette’s Duane Wilson and the Wildcats’ Daniel Ochefu with 6:04 left and Villanova holding a four-point lead. The two got tangled up in a scramble for a rebound and words were exchanged. The refs separated them and called a double technical.
Johnson made two free throws to pull Marquette to 26-24, but Villanova opened a 14-point lead with Hilliard capping a 15-3 run with his third 3 in the half.
TIP-INS:
Villanova: Hilliard had 14 points in the first half on 4 of 8 shooting, including three 3s. … The Wildcats beat the Golden Eagles for the fifth straight time.
Marquette: The Golden Eagles made 4 of 10 free throw attempts in the first half. … Starting guard Matt Carlino missed his fourth consecutive game with a concussion suffered Feb. 4 during the Golden Eagles’ 70-52 loss at Villanova.
UP NEXT:
Villanova: host Providence on Wednesday, the Wildcats final home game of the season.
Marquette: at Butler on Wednesday.
POSTGAME NOTES:
• The Wildcats hit 6-of-12 first-half 3-pointers, outpacing their BIG EAST leading per game average of 37.6 percent. Villanova finished shooting 52.4 percent (11-of-21) from behind the arc.
• VU concluded the game shooting 47.1 percent from the field (24-of-51).
• Villanova’s Darrun Hilliard matched his scoring average (14.3 ppg) with 14 points in the first half (3-of-5 from deep). Hilliard finished with a team-high 17.
• MU’s Jajuan Johnson totaled his third double-digit scoring performance of conference play with 10 points in the first half. Johnson scored a game-high 20 on the afternoon, which marks a new high for him in conference play this season. He tied a career high going 3-of-6 from three.
• Both squads hit 13 first-half field goals, however Villanova connected on 11-of-14 free throws, while MU hit just 4-of-10 from the charity stripe in the opening 20 minutes.
• The Wildcats hit four 3-pointers in the first 3:54 of the second half, including three from Ryan Arcidiacono. He finished with 16 points on the afternoon.
• Luke Fischer’s 17 points (6-of-10 FG), 12 of which came in the second stanza, set a new personal-best mark in conference play. He also grabbed a team-high five rebounds.
• MU’s Sandy Cohen III fouled out at the 1:37 mark after scoring five points and Fischer fouled out with 29.8 seconds remaining.
• Michael Mache, a redshirt sophomore walk-on, made is Marquette debut with 29.8 seconds to play after Fischer exited the game.
• MU’s Derrick Wilson played 40 minutes for the second time this season. His 10 points matched his season high in conference play.
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Sandy Cohen made his first start since the Golden Eagles took on Omaha on Nov. 22, in place of Juan Anderson, who missed his first game of the season.
• Today’s game marked the annual celebration of National Marquette Day, a tradition dating back to the 1960s that
brings the Marquette community united together in pride and spirit to honor the values of the University.
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