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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The No. 16 Providence Friars got 31 points from Ben Bentil and outlasted the No. 4 Villanova Wildcats 82-76 in overtime at the Wells Fargo Center Sunday. The contest had been delayed a day by the major winter snowstorm that dropped more than 20 inches of snow on the region.

"That was a great college basketball game," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright, whose Wildcats saw their streak of 22 consecutive BIG EAST victories snapped. The last Villanova lost in BIG EAST action had come a year and three days earlier, on Jan. 19, 2015 at Georgetown.

"I'd still rather be answering those questions (about the streak). You know a loss can happen every night. You're never afraid to lose. I thought we played to win. But you've just got to be prepared that, if you lose one, you have to come back and get better. We would have said the same thing if we had won.

"It's a challenge to win and keep getting better. It's not a normal thing for human beings. I think this will help us get better."

Senior Ryan Arcidiacono led Villanova with 19 points, including a 3-pointer that forced overtime with seven seconds on the clock in regulation. Junior Josh Hart tossed in 18 points to go with five rebounds.

In addition to Bentil's 31 points, junior Kris Dunn contributed 13 points and 14 assits.

Strong defense helped the Wildcats craft a 20-13 after a Jalen Brunson 3-pointer midway through the first half and a subsequent steal by Arcidiacono. The Wildcats were able to keep Providence's leading scorers Bentil and Dunn in check for the first part of the first half.

"I thought having the extra day helped us," stated Wright. "We got back late Wednesday night and we started the game well."

Bentil and Dunn soon found the range and helped spark the Friars on a 22 -14 run that gave Providence its first lead of the day with 18 seconds to play in the first half, 35-34, when Ryan Fazekas dropped in a 3-pointer from the right corner.

Another Brunson 3-pointer, this one of the final possession of the period, allowed Villanova to take a 37-35 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The ability of Dunn to draw special attention from the defense allowed the junior to help find open shots for his teammates. A triple from Kyron Cartwright and points from Bentil staked Providence to a 44-42 lead with 15:52 left to play in the second half.

While Dunn effectively orchestrated the Friars' transition offense to set up his teammates -- he had 11 assists in the game's first 27:43 -- the matchup zone defense at the other end helped stall VU's offense. A driving bucket by Dunn with 12:13 left in the second half gave the Friars a 52-47 lead.

"We had been doing a better job of getting good 3's," Wright noted. "I thought we settled for some of those."

The game seesawed back and forth into the final minute, when Arcidiacono brought the crowd to its feet with a tying 3-pointer with seven seconds left in regulation that knotted matters at 66 and forced overtime.

A 3-pointer by Kris Jenkins -- who added 11 points to go with a career-best seven assists -- staked the Wildcats to a 69-66 lead in the first minute of the extra session. But Providence scored the next four points in a row and regained the lead. Providence would end up outscoring the Wildcats 16-7 after that initial Jenkins triple and went on to claim the 82-76 win to improve to 17-3 overall, 5-2 BIG EAST.

"We have won a few games on the road where we said that we didn't play our best but found a way to win," noted Wright. "(Today), we didn't play our best but a lot of it was because of what they did. We've been trending toward this. Providence played a great game. Two outstanding players, Bentil and Dunn, made big plays."

The Wildcats will be idle until next Sunday when they visit Madison Square Garden to meet St. John's at noon (Fox 29/610 Sports Radio WTEL).

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