VILLANOVA, Pa. – No. 10/10 Villanova held off Georgetown in the second half to post a 74-66 victory Saturday at Finneran Pavilion. The Wildcats led for more than 39 minutes but the Hoyas (6-20 overall, 0-15 BIG EAST) stayed within striking distance, cutting the margin to three points at the 8:23 mark of the second half.
 
But the second half offense of junior Justin Moore – he scored 15 of his 19 points after halftime – helped the Wildcats (21-6 overall, 14-3 BIG EAST) put this one into the win column.
 
"I know they're going through a rough patch," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright, "but they're sticking together and really playing well. Much respect for them. They're playing hard for Patrick (Ewing). They played small and got us into a lot of mismatches. Defensively, they were physical and really got into us.
 
"We struggled but we gutted it out."
 
Moore overcame a first half where he misfired on eight of nine field goal attempts to convert five of seven after intermission.
 
"Justin had great looks in the first half and just missed," stated Wright. "But he stayed confident in the second half."
 
Prior to the game, Villanova celebrated "Senior Day", honoring four student managers and a trio of seniors: Caleb Daniels, Brandon Slater and Kevin Voigt. Also participating in the ceremony was current Student Athlete Development staffer Maalik Wayns. The Philadelphia native played three seasons for VU from 2009-12 before departing prior to his senior season to enter the National Basketball Association draft.
 
Five free throws in the first five minutes helped the Wildcats build an early 7-2 advantage over the Hoyas. A Collin Gillespie 3-pointer helped Villanova push its lead to 12-4 with 11:46 to play in the first half.
 
But consecutive 3-pointers by Georgetown and a free throw by Donald Carey were part of a 7-0 Georgetown run that shaved the lead to 16-12. A Jordan Longino 3-pointer stopped the run before another Carey bucket made it a 19-14 lead for Nova with 6:10 left on the first half clock.
 
At one point in the period, each team was 5-of-21 from the floor. Georgetown drew to within 19-18 before a Slater 3-pointer pushed the VU lead to 22-18. A Moore short jumper made it 24-18 with three minutes to play before halftime.
 
A Samuels drive drew a foul and a technical foul on the Hoyas. The four free throws – two by Gillespie and two by Samuels – made it 28-18. Villanova took a 32-22 lead with it into its locker room at intermission.
 
Defense was the byword as Georgetown connected on 8-of-29 field goal attempts (.278) while Villanova was just a bit better at 8-of-26 (.308). Gillespie, Samuels and Slater led VU with seven points apiece. Gillespie added eight first half caroms.
 
Georgetown sank 3-pointers on its first two possessions of the second half and quickly cut the gap to 32-28 less than 90 seconds into the period. A Moore 3-pointer made it 35-28. The Hoyas outscored Villanova 18-11 over the first six minutes of the second half to close the deficit to 43-40.
 
Five turnovers in that span hindered Villanova as the Hoyas applied full court pressure.
 
But consecutive 3-pointers by Chris Arcidiacono and Caleb Daniels helped Villanova push its advantage up to 53-42 after 8:15 of the second half. Yet Georgetown continued to make shots, sinking five in a row at one point, to narrow the gap to 56-53 with 8:21 left in the second half.
 
However, Daniels was able to grab an offensive rebound of a Moore miss to push the margin back to 58-53 at the 7:28 mark and the Wildcats' slowly created some separation. Another Daniels bucket off of an offensive rebound pushed the lead to 68-60 and Wright inserted Voigt into the game with 20.4 seconds remaining to the delight of the sellout crowd of 6,501 at Finneran Pavilion.
 
The final count was 74-66.
 
"It was not a pretty game," said Wright. "There were not a lot of pretty things to talk about. But we'll take it. We survived."
 
"Nothing changed for me," added Moore. "I got the looks I wanted in the first half, they just didn't go in. I stayed aggressive and my teammates still found me in the right spots. I just took the shots they gave me."
 
Villanova, the nation's leader in free throw percentage entering this weekend's action, sank 17-of-19 (.895) to help key the win. Slater (11 points), Eric Dixon (10 points), and Daniels (10 points) joined Moore in double figure points.
 
The Wildcats travel to Connecticut on Monday afternoon ahead of a Tuesday night matchup in Hartford with the UConn Huskies. Tipoff is set for just after 8 p.m. at the XL Center (FS1 and the Villanova IHeart Radio Network).