No. 3 Villanova knocks off Georgetown

VILLANOVA, PA. » Jermaine Samuels scored a careerhigh 32 points to lead No. 3 Villanova to an 84-74 victory over Georgetown on Sunday.

Jeremiah RobinsonEarl added 14 points and Collin Gillespie had 12 for the Wildcats (12-2, 7-1 Big East), who rebounded from Wednesday’s loss at St. John’s.

Jahvon Blair scored 18 points and Qudus Wahab had 17 for Georgetown (59, 3-6).

Samuels, who had two points in 25 minutes against St. John’s, made 10 of 17 shots overall and 6 of 7 from 3-point range. He added six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Villanova originally was scheduled to host Xavier on Sunday, but that game was postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the Musketeers’ program. Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing jumped at the opportunity to bump up the game, which had been scheduled for Feb. 17.

“When it was brought to my attention that we can play the game on Sunday, I said yes,” Ewing said. “Who knows what’s going to happen next week? I’d rather get the game in.”

Georgetown took its last lead on Blair’s 3-pointer with 5:46 to play that made it 67-66. After a pair of free throws by Justin Moore gave Villanova a 72-69 advantage, Wahab’s two-handed dunk attempt went long off the back rim. Caleb Daniels drained a 3 on the Wildcats’ ensuing possession and Villanova was its way to its 10th win in 11 games.

Unlike the first contest on Dec. 11, when Georgetown led by as many as 18 points in the opening half before losing 76-63, it was Villanova that jumped out to a double-digit firsthalf advantage. Samuels’ 3-pointer with 8:50 left in the half made it 30-20.

But Georgetown clawed back, outscoring the Wildcats 15-3 over the next six minutes to go up 35-33 on Chudier Bile’s reverse layup. Villanova scored four of the final six before the break to enter the locker room ahead 37-35.