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NEW YORK, N.Y. -- After a sluggish start, the No. 2 seed Villanova Wildcats kicked their offense into high gear over the final 30 minutes to down No. 7 seed Marquette 94-70 in a quarterfinal game of the BIG EAST Tournament presented by Jeep Thursday night. Redshirt junior Mikal Bridges -- who has averaged 23.7 points per game over his last six outings -- led the `Cats with 25 points and eight rebounds.

Junior Jalen Brunson, named national player of the year by The Sporting News and USA Today earlier this week, chipped in with 21 points.

The win was Jay Wright's 414th as Villanova head coach, moving him past Alexander Severance into a spot as the program's all-time wins leader.

Marquette fell to 19-13 overall.

The Wildcats advanced to a semifinal matchup with Butler, which knocked off No. 3 seed Seton Hall, in Thursday evening's nightcap.

Villanova began the night 3-of-13 from the field. It connected on 30-of-45 of its attempts from the field the rest of the way (.667).

"Good effort," stated Wright. "I'm really proud of our guys. I think early in the game Marquette, I think they showed they played last night. They were a little sharper than us early.

"We hung in there. I think the leadership of Jalen and Mikal just kept everybody together. And then I think toward the middle of the second half I think you saw the effects of Marquette playing last night. Then they got -- I think we wore them down a little bit. It's tough to come back."

Both the Golden Eagles and Wildcats rely on the 3-pointer yet neither could find the range early. Ten of the first 12 attempts taken by the two teams in the game's first 4:22 were from beyond the arc. Marquette sank two and the Wildcats one, which allowed the Golden Eagles to collect a 6-5 lead at the first official timeout.

In spite of the firepower both teams bring to the fray, points were hard to come by as the period moved along. Five points from Brunson staked VU to a 10-8 lead with 11:38 on the first half clock despite the fact the `Cats were just 3-of-13 from the floor at that point. Meanwhile, Marquette was 3-of-14 from the field in the opening stretch.

Midway through the first period, though, both teams heated up. Marquette connected on six straight attempts from the field, including long distance 3-pointers by Andrew Rowsey (22 points) and Markus Howard (23 points) to grab a 20-18 lead. But Bridges led a 7-0 burst by the Wildcats to put them back in front, a lead they would never relinquish.

The flurry over the last 10 minutes of the period saw the Wildcats convert 11 of their last 14 attempts from the field to take a 41-34 lead at halftime. Howard (16 points) and Rowsey (14 points) scored 30 of the Golden Eagles 34 points. Brides paced VU with 16 points and four rebounds.

Marquette reeled off nine points in the first two minutes of the second half to narrow the Villanova lead to 46-43. But Villanova used a 12-0 spurt that was capped by a 3-pointer from redshirt junior guard Phil Booth to extend their edge to 58-43 as the Golden Eagles signaled for time with just under 14 minutes to play in the second half.

After a Brunson drive to score with 7:43 remaining, the Wildcats held an 80-60 lead. The Wildcats were able to glide home to the win in front of a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden.

"Jalen and Mikal are our leaders," noted Wright. "They know, to start the game, they've got to get us going. And then after that with those two, their experience allows them to just read how the defense is playing them.

"So they stay aggressive. Then they start finding their teammates and the team adjusts and starts taking them away and then they find their teammates."

The 2017-18 Villanova Men's Basketball season is presented by KeyBank.