Nova Rally Comes Up Short in 66-65 loss to Marquette

After Villanova jumped out to a quick lead early, Marquette quickly established control, building a lead as large as nine late in the first half. ‘Nova was able to generate a quick 7-2 run to close the half and cut the deficit to a manageable four.

The teams briefly traded blows at the start of the second half before the Golden Eagles once again took control of the game, building a 15-point lead with 12:51 to go. The Wildcats found themselves squarely in the danger zone as the game was on the verge of getting away from them.

But they responded with a 10-0 run to get within five in the span of three minutes. Marquette came right back, stretching the margin back to nine at the 8:18 mark. Villanova again had a response as it found the offense, ripping off 11-straight points to take a two-point lead, 55-53. It was Villanova’s first lead since 5-2.

Marquette regained the lead and stretched it to five points with 3:11 to go before four straight points from Phil Booth brought the ‘Cats within one at the 1:36 mark, setting up a frustrating final minute and a half.

The ‘Cats got a stop on Marquette’s ensuing possession, holding the ball with the chance to take the lead. Eric Paschall missed a 3, but Jermaine Samuels came down with the offensive rebound. Unfortunately, ‘Nova was victimized by a phantom foul call on the Samuels rebound, and instead of having a second possession, Markus Howard went to the line.

Howard sunk both free throws with 53 seconds left, but Booth quickly answered with another bucket to get ‘Nova within one once again. Howard was stripped by Saddiq Bey on the next possession, and it appeared that Bey was fouled tracking down the loose ball with the same official that had called the foul on Samuels standing right next to the play. His whistle remained silent, costing Bey a trip to the line, but Villanova was able to retain possession and called a timeout with 14 seconds left.

The ‘Cats produced a final possession that will bother Villanova fans for a while, as Jay Wright drew up an excellent play that worked to perfection, causing confusion for the Marquette defense and producing an opening to the basket for Booth. But rather than pull up for a floater or aggressively attack the rim, Booth dribbled himself too far under the basket and was forced to throw a dangerous pass to Jermaine Samuels who had to throw up a wild shot at the clock expired.

The frustration of the loss will be amplified by the two questionable officiating decisions and the rare mental mistake from Booth, who was phenomenal down the stretch.

While the loss stings and Nova Nation will be left to rue the officiating and the final possession, the way the game was going early in the second half could have left fans with a much worse feeling.

The ‘Cats were on their way to getting blown out. They were understandably struggling to contain Markus Howard, the shots weren’t going down, and they were in a tough environment. Things could have easily gotten out of hand.

Instead, they never panicked, erased a 15-point deficit to take the lead, and had a chance to win on the final possession. And all of that despite getting the short end of a pair of officiating decisions in crunch time.

The offensive struggles from Wednesday followed the ‘Cats to Milwaukee. They shot just 40.4 percent from the field and 31 percent from 3. Booth and Collin Gillespie shot a combined 2-13 from 3, and ‘Nova got just five points from its bench.

Markus Howard and Sacar Anim scored 56 of Marquette’s 66 points.

It’s certainly a tough one to swallow between the late officiating and the mistake on the final possession, but the comeback and resiliency were impressive and the ‘Cats were almost able to steal one on the road despite not shooting the ball the way they are accustomed to.

The good news is that ‘Nova retains a one-game lead over Marquette in the Big East standings and remain in control of their own destiny in the conference title race.

The ‘Cats will look to get back on track Wednesday when they host Providence.