The Villanova Wildcats have finally broken through.

After a seemingly never-ending series of close losses and near-misses against good teams, ‘Nova earned it’s best win of the season Tuesday night with a 64-63 win over No. 16 Xavier in Cincinnati.

The Wildcats showed some impressive grit Tuesday night, twice battling back from double digit deficits en route to the big win.

“They came out and punched us in the mouth to start,” Kyle Neptune said. “I thought our guys settled down and started getting some stops and that led to the win.”

After playing within two possessions of each other for the first eight minutes, with ‘Nova leading by as many as three and Xavier leading by as many as five, the Musketeers used a 9-0 run to establish control. All told the run would extend to 12-1, giving Xavier its largest lead of the game at 13 with 7:28 to play in the first half. ‘Nova would respond with a 10-0 run to pull within three, but yet another buzzer-beating three by a Villanova opponent tempered the ‘Nova momentum and sent the Musketeers to the break with a six-point lead.

Xavier would score the first four points of the second half to push the lead back to 10. Six straight points from ‘Nova got the ‘Cats back in it, and an overall 18-8 run would tie the game with 10:28 to play. An Xavier bucket would prevent ‘Nova from taking the lead, but a basket from Eric Dixon retied the game and a Justin Moore layup on the ensuing possession would give the ‘Cats their first lead since 5-2 with 8:44 to go.

Another bucket from Dixon would extend the push to 6-0 and give the ‘Cats a four-point lead at the 7:54 mark.

Five-straight points from Xavier allowed the Musketeers to retake the lead with 5:20 to go, and it was hard not to sense another one getting away from the ‘Cats. This time, ‘Nova responded in a way it has struggled to do so this season, using a 7-2 run to grab back the lead at 61-57 with just over three minutes to go.

A dagger three from Moore with 2:13 to go put ‘Nova up five, but some of the all-to-familiar problems of the season would resurface over the final two minutes, forcing ‘Nova to sweat things out. A Xavier basket cut the lead to three, and three Villanova turnovers over the final 1:29 would allow Xavier to get within one. The final turnover gave the Musketeers the ball with a chance to win the game with 11 seconds left. But outstanding defense from Dixon forced a Xavier miss, and Villanova emerged with its best win of the season.

This is not the time to nitpick, but we have to mention that the last few minutes of the game were once again far from a masterpiece from the ‘Cats. ‘Nova scored just four points over the game’s final 3:18 and none over the final 2:13. We mentioned the three late turnovers, and again many of Villanova’s late possessions looked rudderless and resulted in turnovers or poor shots late in the shot clock.

But this time, the ‘Cats were able to make enough plays down the stretch to earn the win, with Moore’s three and Dixon’s defense standing out. Jordan Longino also had a huge steal and three-point play.

Villanova’s defense was excellent Tuesday night, especially in the second half. In that period, ‘Nova held Xavier to 39.1% shooting overall and 25% from three. The ‘Cats forced 10 second-half turnovers and turned those giveaways into 17 points, winning points off turnovers 19-2 for the game. That second-half defense and those turnovers and the ability to turn them into points was the difference in the game.

“I think we got the stops when we needed to,” Neptune said. “Our guys, I thought their toughness was unbelievable, just working around guys in the post, their ball pressure. And I thought we were really connected.”

Moore was fantastic for the ‘Cats, having by far his best game since returning with 25 points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal. He shot 10-13 overall and 4-7 from three.

“It’s huge,” Neptune said of Moore’s return and impact on the team. “He’s not just our best player, he’s also our leader, he’s also the guy who’s respected in the locker room, he’s our smartest guy. He’s everything for our team. He still helped us when he was out just being at practice, just mentoring our guys. A lot of credit goes to that kid, he didn’t have to come back this year. He just wanted to help our team and be there for his brothers. He hasn’t been 100%, I don’t think he is 100%, I don’t know if he’ll be 100% this year but we appreciate everything he does for us. He did a great job tonight.”

Villanova has been on the verge of a win like this about eight times this season and hasn’t been able to get over the hump. On Tuesday night, it finally did.