Survive and advance. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t pretty, but for the fifth-straight year, the Villanova Wildcats have reached the Big East tournament championship game, grinding out a 71-67 overtime win against Xavier Friday night.
The beginning of the game was tightly contested, with the teams playing to a 15-15 tie with 8:56 to go in the half. But Xavier then hit the ‘Cats with an 18-8 run, taking a 10-point lead with just under three minutes to go. ‘Nova was able to shave four points off the margin by the time the halftime buzzer sounded, heading into the break trailing 34-28.
The margin stayed between three and six for the first 15 minutes of the second half before a Quentin Goodin jumper put the Musketeers up seven with 4:44 to go. It started to feel like the ‘Cats were in the danger zone, but they managed to rip off five-straight to get back within two with 2:19 left. A Zach Hankins layup pushed the lead back to four with just over a minute to go, but Jermaine Samuels hit a three 15 seconds later to get ‘Nova within one. Hankins split a pair of free throws at the other end to give Xavier a two-point lead with 19 seconds on the clock.
On the ensuing possession, Phil Booth missed a layup, but Eric Paschall converted an impressive, athletic tip-in to tie the game and ultimately send the game into overtime.
‘Nova was able to get the better of things in overtime, outscoring Xavier 13-9 and surviving a last-gasp flurry from the Musketeers to get the gritty win and advance to the title game.
The game proved to be an offensive struggle for the ‘Cats, who shot 41 percent from the field and 31 percent from three. It took well into the second half before a fifth Wildcat got on the scoresheet, and the team was plagued by turnovers for much of the game. But they never let the offensive struggles impact their effort of defense and gutted out a hard-fought win.
Phil Booth carried the load for the ‘Cats with 28 points to go with seven rebounds and five assists. His leadership and ability to get ‘Nova buckets when they desperately needed them was huge.
Jermaine Samuels was huge for the Wildcats, scoring 17 points, grabbing nine rebounds, and dishing out four assists. He struggled from the field early, hitting just two of his first 11 shots, and seemed to become reluctant to shoot. Fortunately, his teammates implored him to keep shooting, and eventually, he did, hitting some absolutely huge shots down the stretch and in overtime.
Eric Paschall added 12 points, while Saddiq Bey chipped in 10.
Collin Gillespie and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree had two points each.
Villanova held Xavier to 20.8 percent from 3, and their 12-point advantage from deep was huge. Paul Scruggs (career-high 28 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, two steals) and Zach Hankins (18 points, 8-10 shooting) gave the Wildcats fits, but the rest of the Xavier roster was limited and ‘Nova made enough defensive plays down the stretch to earn the victory.
There are going to be nights where the shots don’t fall, and it was great to see the Wildcats be able to lean on their defense and rebounding to grind out a win. This game was as good a representation of Villanova’s “attitude” as perhaps we’ve seen all season, and especially at tournament time, it can make a huge difference.
The ‘Cats will get the winner of Marquette-Seton Hall in tomorrow’s Big East tournament championship game looking for their fourth title in five years. The game is scheduled for 6 PM.
