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NEWARK, N.J. - The Seton Hall Pirates (12-2 overall, 2-0 BIG EAST) outscored No. 6/5 Villanova 8-3 in overtime en route to posting a 66-61 triumph over the Wildcats here before a sellout crowd of 10,701 today at the Prudential Center.

The loss snaps the 13-game win streak to open the season compiled by Villanova (13-1 overall, 1-1 BIG EAST).

Junior center Daniel Ochefu enjoyed his best statistical day as a Wildcat, notching career highs in points (19) and rebounds (24) while senior Darrun Hilliard added 14 points before fouling out. Sterling Gibbs led the Hall with 20 points while freshman Khadeen Carrington added 17 points.

The Wildcats battled for 45 minutes despite enduring their toughest shooting day from the floor (18-of-58, .310) and converting their second lowest free throw percentage of the campaign (20-of-35, .571).

"That was a great college basketball game and fun to be a part of it," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "It was a great atmosphere with outstanding players' plays. Seton Hall got us in the end. This was two teams that are very close to one another. They made the plays at the end and we didn't."

Seton Hall knocked off No. 15 St. John's on New Year's Eve 78-67 and it carried that momentum into the early moments of this contest. The Pirates scored the game's first six points and held a 12-3 lead at the first official timeout 5:35 into the first half. Villanova, meanwhile, did not connect on its first basket until a Josh Hart bucket nearly six minutes into the period.

The Pirates converted 8-of-13 field goals over the first 8:35 and held a 19-10 lead over Villanova.

The Wildcats, though, began getting stops on defense and that allowed them to claw their way back from what at one point was a double digit deficit. Villanova closed to within 31-27 at halftime despite connecting on .280 of its first half field goals and committing eight turnovers.

"I thought our guys battled," stated Wright. "We just didn't execute as well as Seton Hall did late in the game."

Hilliard scored seven quick points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to give the Wildcats their first lead of the contest at 34-31 58 seconds into the second half. Villanova would extend the lead to 48-43 but could never create more separation than that. A Gibbs' step back 3-pointer with 6:21 to go in regulation tied the game at 52 and it was a tense duel to the wire from there.

Two clutch free throws by sophomore Kris Jenkins with 36 seconds left in the second half allowed Villanova to draw even at 58. The Wildcats then got a defensive stop in the final 30 seconds and Ochefu collected the rebound. There were five seconds left and ¾ of the court to go yet VU got the ball into the hands of Hilliard for a great look at an open three as the horn sounded. It came up short, however, and then sent the contest to overtime.

The Wildcats weren't able to capture the overtime magic they found against Syracuse two weeks ago, scoring only one field goal over the five minutes of extra time on an Ochefu basket. Yet they had a chance to tie the game on their final offensive possession down 64-61 but committed a turnover.

That gave the Hall a 66-61 victory.

"We had a chance to get a three there at the end," stated Wright. "They execute defensively, get a steal, and they win the game."

The poor shooting, particularly at the line, played a role but Wright wasn't prepared to point to that as the reason for this defeat.

"We didn't shoot the ball well from the foul line," stated Wright. "But we tried to play in a way that we can overcome that. We never count on that as something we are going to hang our hat on. We try to practice and play in a way that, if we don't make foul shots, we'll play better defense. If we don't make foul shots, we'll get offensive rebounds.

"We didn't do a good enough job of the other things today because sometimes you are going to have a game where you don't shoot free throws well.."

Ocehfu's effort was impressive even in defeat..

"In a game like that, where they have young inside players, he's got to be effective for us and he was," stated Wright. "It was a (heck) of a game. Daniel also did a really good job of protecting the basket."

The Wildcats hope to bounce back when they visit St. John's at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. (Fox Sports 1/610 AM WTEL).

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