Moore’s 19 points lead balanced Villanova over struggling Georgetown

Justin Moore led a balanced scoring attack as Villanova defeated Georgetown, 74-66, at the Finneran Pavilion early Saturday evening.

Despite slow starts to open both the first and second halves, Villanova (21-6, 14-3 Big East) used stingy defense and mature veteran play to hold off a Georgetown team that hung around until the final buzzer. The Hoyas (6-20, 0-15) never held a lead in the contest.

“A Big East battle, man,” said Villanova head coach Jay Wright. “It certainly wasn’t pretty, but we give them a lot of credit. I know they are going through a rough patch, but they are sticking together and really playing well.”

Villanova, the conference’s most accurate free-throw shooting team, shot 89% from the line, including a streak of 17 consecutive makes.

Moore led Villanova with 19 points.

Donald Carey led Georgetown with 24 points.

Jermaine Samuels scored five of Villanova’s first seven points and was aggressive offensively from the tip. He was fouled hard on two separate possessions to open the game, connecting on three of the four free throws. Samuels backed down his Georgetown opponents on the low block, drawing fouls or finding open teammates on the three-point line.

His energy helped mitigate a sluggish start from the Wildcats, who were fresh off of a thrilling win at Providence on Tuesday night.

“I thought Jermaine was great,” said Wright. “He was aggressive and attacking the rim.”

» READ MORE: Why is Jay Wright still at Villanova? You saw it Saturday | Mike Jensen

Samuels’ contribution wasn’t just on offense. On defense, he had a huge block –– pinned against the backboard -- midway through the first half that ignited the crowd. Add a steal to his performance, too.

In the second half, Samuels only took only three shots, electing to be more of a facilitator on offense. .

Samuels finished with nine points and eight rebounds.

Or a little bit of both? Georgetown made just two of its first 14 shot attempts. The Wildcats made just five of their first 17 shots, including a four-minute scoring drought late in the opening 20 minutes.

The Wildcats mixed in a full-court press and man-to-man defense that forced the Hoyas to take contested, low-percentage shots. But, at the same time, Georgetown’s full-court press forced some Villanova turnovers early on.

The pace would pick up, on both sides, as the first half progressed. The Wildcats would solve Georgetown’s press, often tossing the ball across halfcourt to an open teammate, avoiding the trap opportunity altogether.

Villanova led, 32-22, at the half.

The same drought that plagued Villanova in the first half returned early in the second half. Georgetown went on a 12-6 run to open the half, a stretch in which the Wildcats committed nearly as many turnovers (four) than they did the entire first half (five). The run cut the Villanova lead to four points.

The Wildcats would steady the ship, going on a 33-second, 6-0 scoring run to grow their lead back to 11. The game was not over, though, with the Hoyas clawing their way back over the next five minutes to make it competitive. Soon thereafter, Georgetown ran out of gas.

One of the main concerns for Villanova all season has been its lack of size. Yet, on Saturday, the Wildcats didn’t seem “small.” They out-rebounded the Hoyas, who rotated two 7-foot centers and, occasionally, 7-foot-2 Ryan Mutombo, the son of NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo, 37-31.

The game’s leading rebounder? Villanova point guard Collin Gillespie, with 10 boards, including eight in the first half. The Wildcats did a sufficient job of crashing the offensive glass, seemingly having one, two, and sometimes even three chances to score on just one possession.

“It was just not a pretty game, not a lot of pretty things to talk about, but we’ll take it, we survived,” said Wright.

Saturday was a day of celebration for the Wildcats, not just because they won. Eight members of the program –– from the managers, office assistants, one former player, and three current Wildcats –– who will receive their degree in May were honored pre-game.

One of the Wildcat seniors honored, Kevin Voigt, the only one of the three (Caleb Daniels and Brandon Slater are the others) who isn’t a starter, was even able to get some playing time at the end of the game. He checked into the game with 24 seconds to play. The crowd went bonkers.

“Yeah, it was nice. I hear him all the time, they are yelling ‘Kevin, Kevin,’” said Wright. “It’s an eight-point game and I’m thinking ‘I love Kevin, but this is pretty tight.’ It was nice that we could make a couple plays there at the end.”

During one of the media timeouts, the Villanova football team, which made the FCS playoffs last season, was honored. Former Wildcat player, Jalen Brunson, a member of two national title teams, was in the house, too.

Fun fact, courtesy of Mike Sielski: Entering Saturday, Georgetown had already lost more Big East games this season (14) than Patrick Ewing did in his four years (13) as a Hoya. Yikes.

Villanova travels to UConn on Tuesday for a top-25 matchup.