CINCINNATI, Ohio – A season high 25 points from Justin Moore and a suffocating second half defensive effort lifted Villanova to a 64-63 win over No. 16 Xavier Tuesday night at the Cintas Center.
 
The Wildcats were able to stymie the potent Musketeers in the final 11.8 seconds to secure the win.
 
"I thought we did a good job of getting stops in the second half," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "Xavier punched us in the mouth over the first five or six minutes of the game but we kept battling."
 
Indeed, the Wildcats (14-14 overall, 8-9 BIG EAST) fell behind by 13 points midway through the first half before beginning to chip away at the Musketeers' lead.
 
Justin Moore scored the Wildcats' first five points but Xavier (20-8 overall, 12-5 BIG EAST) matched that and moved in front 8-5 on a traditional 3-point play by Souley Boum. A Brandon Slater basket stopped an 8-0 Musketeers' burst but a Jerome Hunter jumper made it 12-7 as the clock dipped below the 15-minute mark in the first half. It was a 14-10 lead at the first official break of the contest.
 
At that point, Xavier was 6-of-9 from the field (.667).
 
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Boum and Desmond Claude stretched the Xavier advantage to 20-12 with 10:23 to play in the first half. Another Claude 3-ball moved the lead to 23-12. Following a Cam Whitmore free throw, a traditional 3-point play by Jack Nunge made it a 12-1 spurt and put the deficit at 13, 26-13. A Moore basket pulled the 'Cats to within 26-15 with 7:45 to play in the half.
 
When Mark Armstrong dropped in a 3-pointer at the 4:03 mark, Villanova was back to within 31-25. A Moore 3-pointer closed the gap to 31-28.
 
A Jordan Longino bucket got the 'Cats to within 33-30 before Boum's heave just inside the halfcourt stripe went through the net just before halftime to make it a 36-30 lead at intermission.
 
Moore led Nova with 11 first half points while Whitmore added seven points.
 
Xavier scored the first four points after halftime while holding the Wildcats without a point over a stretch of 1:47. The put the Musketeers lead back to double digits, 40-30. A Moore basket just inside the 3-point line pulled VU back to within 40-32. An Armstrong layup and two Whitmore free throws made it 40-36.
 
When Moore dropped in a 3-poiner, the lead shrunk to 42-39. But Boum fired in another triple of his own, this one from the left wing, to put the 'Cats deficit at 45-39 as the clock fell below the 14-minute mark.
 
A 9-3 spurt drew Villanova even at 48 before Colby Jones scored for the Musketeers to give them a 50-48 lead at the midway point of the second half. A Dixon basket tied the game at 50. That was followed by an interior basket by Moore and another Dixon score to give VU a 54-50 lead with 7:54 to play in the second half.
 
A traditional 3-point play by Nunge shaved the 'Cats edge to 54-53. Nunge then got a jump hook to go to put the Musketeers up 55-54. Moore answered with a drive and score to give the 'Cats the lead at 56-55. Hunter's basket put Xavier up, 57-56. Then came a Dixon score, to make it 58-57 in favor of Nova.
 
Longino then came up with a steal and scored on his drive to the goal. That gave the Wildcats a 60-57 lead at the final official timeout of the second half (3:18 left on the clock). He added a free throw to push the lead to four.
 
Hunter sank two free throws at the 2:56 mark to cut the deficit to 61-59. Moore then dropped in a 3-pointer to push the edge to 64-61 before Kunkel scored on a drive to the goal for Xavier.
 
It was a 64-61 VU lead with 89 seconds on the clock. Villanova forced a Xavier turnover on its next offensive possession with 1:01 remaining. Xavier then came up with a defensive turnover of its own and Boum was fouled. He sank both free throws with 40.8 seconds left to close the margin to 64-63.
 
The Wildcats were unable to score on their possession but they forced Xavier to misfire on its final attempt and Longino forced a held ball on the rebound. The possession arrow favored Villanova, which inbounded the ball in the frontcourt to allow the final 1.3 seconds to expire.
 
"What Justin has done is amazing," said Neptune. "He was great tonight. A lot of people may have told him to just shut it down for the season. But he wanted to be out there with his brothers and obviously he makes a big difference for our team."
 
Next up, Villanova hosts Creighton Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center at noon (Fox television network/Fox 29 in Philadelphia and the Villanova Sports Network on the IHeart radio app).