MILWAUKEE, Wis. – No. 14 Marquette used a late surge to rally past Villanova 73-64 in a BIG EAST basketball game played here before 13,334 at Fiserv Forum Wednesday night.
 
Eric Dixon and Caleb Daniels led the Wildcats (10-12 overall, 4-7 BIG EAST) with 14 points each. Tyler Kolek led all scorers with 20 points.
 
"I thought Marquette just made some tough plays," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune of the final stretch where the Golden Eagles regained the lead and put this into the win column (18-5 overall, 10-2 BIG EAST). "They got some offensive rebounds. It's the little things.
 
"In a one or two possession game, a rebound can be the difference. Or a charge. It could be a dive. We look at the entire game. They're a really good team. They just made more plays than us."
 
Three-pointers from Brandon Slater and Daniels staked the Wildcats to a 6-0 lead in the game's first two minutes. A Stevie Mitchell runner gave Marquette its first bucket of the evening, stopping the early Nova burst. Cam Whitmore slammed home a feed from Slater to get the lead to 8-2.
 
The Wildcats were, however, hurt by four turnovers in the first 4:22 of the period. They would finish with 19, which allowed the Golden Eagles to enjoy an 18-7 in points off of miscues.
 
The game was deadlocked at 16 approaching the midpoint of the half. A free throw and a 3-pointer from Justin Moore handed VU back a 20-16 advantage before four consecutive Marquette points tied it again, this time at 20.
 
Villanova held a 32-31 lead when it called for a timeout with 16.7 seconds left. Moore then drained a long 3-pointer to make it 35-31 before Marquette answered with a Kam Jones 3-pointer from just across the midcourt line released just ahead of the clock hitting zero. That made it a 35-34 Wildcats' edge at intermission.
 
Moore and Brendan Hausen – who dropped in a pair of triples – led the 'Cats with nine points each. Villanova connected on .579 of its first half field goal attempts, including 7-of-13 from beyond the arc (.538). It also committed 11 turnovers across the first 20 minutes while holding the Golden Eagles to .440 accuracy from the floor.
 
Seven points from Daniels over the first 5:24 of the second half helped the Wildcats build a 44-40 lead over the Golden Eagles. But Marquette scored the next five points, the last one a Tyler Kolek 3-pointer to re-take the lead at 45-44. A David Joplin corner 3-pointer – the Golden Eagles' 10^th of the night – gave them a 48-44 lead with 12:12 on the clock.
 
A 5-0 spurt keyed by a Whitmore 3-pointer and interior basket from Eric Dixon put the 'Cats back on top, 51-50 with 9:42 to go in the second half. Dixon and Hausen then helped fuel an 9-4 burst that gave VU a 59-55 lead with 7:09 left in the period.
 
Marquette answered, however, and when Jones dropped in a running layup the game was tied at 61 with just over five minutes left in regulation. Dixon sank a free throw to lift the Wildcats to a 62-61 lead before Kolek sank two from the line to put the Golden Eagles up, 63-62 at the 4:32 mark. Jones scored on another drive after a Nova miss and the lead was three, 65-62.
 
The Wildcats got consecutive defensive stops but were unable to capitalize at the offensive end, enduring a three plus minute drought. A Kolek basket with 41.0 seconds left pushed the lead to 67-62.
 
"They were nasty," stated Neptune of the final minutes. "They were tough, got into passing lanes and got deflections that disrupted what we were trying to do."
 
The final count was 73-64.
 
Villanova is scheduled to fly to Omaha Thursday to prepare its next matchup Saturday night at Creighton (7:30 p.m./Fox and the Villanova Sports Network).