Wildcat Wrap
 
 
Final Score: Seton Hall 64, Wildcats 56
 
Overview: The Wildcats were in the flow over the opening 10 minutes, building a 19-15 edge over Seton Hall in Newark, N.J. But the Pirates' defense locked in over the final part of the period, allowing it to build a 30-24 lead at the break.
 
Seton Hall continued its roll in the opening minutes of the second half, outscoring Nova 11-5 over the opening 3:37 to open a 41-29 lead. The Wildcats chipped that down to 43-37, but another Pirates spurt midway through the period, gave SHU its largest lead of the night to that point, 50-37.
 
An exciting 11-2 burst got Villanova to within 52-48, but Seton Hall got stops on its next two defensive possessions and added four points at the other end to keep trouble at arm's length. The final margin was 66-56.
 
"All the credit goes to Seton Hall," said Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "I thought they came out and played extremely hard. Sha (SHU coach Shaheen Holloway) had them ready. They did what they needed to do. They're a really good defensive team and did a great job on the glass."
 
 A Quick Getaway:  A Justin Moore 3-pointer opened the scoring, and the Wildcats kept the pressure on the Pirates in the early minutes, grabbing a 10-4 after 4:18 of the period. Back-to-back 3-pointers by the Pirates brought Seton Hall back to within 13-12 at the U12 break in the opening half.
 
Matters remained tight through the midpoint of the period as Villanova held a 19-18 edge at the 7:34 mark. The Wildcats endured a 1-of-9 shooting stretch but were able to retain their lead at 21-20 thanks to their own quality defense. There was 3:59 left on the first half clock at the final media timeout of the half.
 
Seton Hall took its first lead of the night on a 3-pointer at the top of the key by Al-Amir Dawes with just more than three minutes to go in the period, 23-22. That was followed by a Jaden Bediako layup to push the margin to 25-22. Dawes dropped in another triple to extend the lead to 28-22 and a pair of free throws made it a 10-0 surge with a 30-22 Hall lead with 50 seconds to play in the period.
 
Meanwhile, Villanova was in the midst of a field goal drought of more than four minutes before Hakim Hart dropped in a bucket at the 50 second mark.
 
At halftime, the Hall held a 30-24 lead.
 
After going 5-of-9 from the floor to open the game, the Wildcats were just 4-of-19 for the remainder of the period (.321 for the half). Dixon led VU with 10 points and Villanova attempted just two free throws. Part of Seton Hall's burst was generated by its work on the boards where it collected seven of the last nine rebounds of the period (a 22-15 edge for the half.)
 
Second 20: Dylan Addae-Wusu drained a 3-pointer on the Pirates first possession of the second half to kick-start an 11-5 spurt over the first 3:37 of the period that allowed Seton Hall to stretch its advantage to 41-29. The Pirates were 3-of-5 from beyond the arc in that span.
 
Villanova pieced together consecutive stops and got two straight scores from Dixon in the low post to shave the Pirates lead to 43-37 at the 12:38 mark of the second half. But a Khadary Richmond 3-pointer capped a 7-0 Hall burst that pushed the lead back up to 13, 50-37.
 
There was 8:59 left on the second half clock.
 
An 11-2 spurt, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Brendan Hausen on which he was fouled, helped bring the Wildcats to within 52-48 with just over five minutes to play. Seton Hall, however, scored the next four points to double its margin to 56-48 at the 3:46 mark of the second half.
 
Seton Hall took advantage of its free throw attempts as Villanova attempted to close the gap making the final count 66-56.