Villanova rallied from a six-point second half deficit to outlast Georgetown 77-73 in a BIG EAST game played Monday at Finneran Pavilion.
 
Caleb Daniels led a balanced attack with 16 points while Brandon Slater added 15 points. Slater also came up with a pivotal steal in the final seconds to help secure the win.
 
"That was a hard-fought Big East game," said Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "We got up early, tried to separate, and they battled back in the first half. "That continued in the second half.
 
"I give a lot of credit to our guys. We were down there in the second half. We've been in that spot a few times this year and it hasn't gone the way we wanted it to. But our guys hung in and it went our way."
 
Some early offensive efficiency helped Villanova (9-10 overall, 3-5 BIG EAST) grab a 14-11 lead after 6:31 of action. Six points in the paint from Slater played a role in that span. The 'Cats converted 6-of-9 from the field while Georgetown wasn't far off that pace, converting 5-of-8 from the floor.
 
Georgetown used a 6-0 spurt to pull to within 20-19 but Villanova came right back with an 8-0 surge of its own, highlighted by a 3-pointer and steal and slam by Whitmore to grab a 28-19 advantage with 7:32 left in the first half.
 
The Hoyas came right back, however, reeling off eight straight points, to close the gap to 30-27 with 3:41 on the first half clock. After the Hoyas closed to within, 34-33, a Mark Armstrong 3-pointer gave the Wildcats the 37-33 lead they would take with them into the locker room at intermission.
 
Villanova benefitted from a balanced offensive attack in the first 20 minutes. Whitmore's eight points set the scoring pace and VU forced seven Hoyas turnovers in the period. Georgetown, which got seven first half points from Primo Spears, stayed close thanks to an 18-10 rebounding advantage.
 
Georgetown grabbed a 44-42 lead early in the second half, thanks to a 9-0 run. The Hoyas sank 5-of-7 from the field in that span while Villanova connected on 1-of-6 from the floor. Guard Jordan Riley fueled the run, pushing his point total to 18 with 15:56 left in the second half. When Bryson Mozone drained a 3-pointer, the Georgetown lead was 50-44.
 
The margin was 52-46 in favor of the Hoyas at the 11:49 mark. At that point, the Hoyas were 8-of-12 from the field in the period and had expanded their edge on the glass to 27-14.
 
The hot shooting of the Hoyas continued midway through the period. Georgetown extended its lead to 62-56 before a Whitmore 3-pointer cut that in half. With 7:49 left, the Wildcats were back to within three points, 62-59. Two Daniels free throws at the 6:52 mark made it a 1-point deficit, 62-61. A drive and score by Armstrong tied the game at 63.
 
Villanova scored the next five points, keyed by an Armstrong layup, to grab a 68-63 lead. But the Hoyas sank four straight at the line, to close the gap to 68-67 with 3:30 remaining in the second half. A Spears jumper gave Georgetown back the lead at 69-68 at the 2:42 mark. A Dixon free throw tied the contest at 69 before another Primo jumper put Georgetown back on top, 71-69.
 
Brandon Slater scored off an Armstrong feed and the Wildcats' followed that with a defensive stop. That led to a Dixon old-school 3-point play, putting Nova up 74-71 with 1:01 on the clock.
Spears was fouled on the next Georgetown possession and dropped in both free throws to make it a 74-73 Wildcats' lead with 52.2 seconds to go.
 
"We're a team that needs to grow," Neptune said. "This was a big step for us. In the past Villanova teams have been really well-balanced scoring teams. We were that today offensively. If we can share the ball like that we'll be in a good spot."
 
After a turnover, Villanova forced the Hoyas to commit a turnover as Slater came up with a steal, leading to a breakaway slam by Whitmore that gave the 'Cats a 76-73 lead with 7.2 seconds on the clock. A Brandon Murray misfire on a bid to tie from beyond the arc was collected by Dixon, who was fouled and sank a free throw to make the final 77-73.
 
"In the end, I was really proud of Eric," stated Neptune. "They were going at him. He took the challenge in the end and that's all we can ask for."
 
Villanova returns to action Friday night when it meets St. John's at Madison Square Garden. Tipoff for that is set for 7 p.m. (FS1 and the Villanova Sports Network).