Marquette was unable to capitalize on its furious comeback Saturday, falling to No. 4 Villanova 94-85 in overtime.
Davante Gardner scored a career-high 29 points and notched 13 rebounds, Todd Mayo scored 18 and Jamil Wilson had 16 while tallying nine rebounds.
Villanova received impressive performances from James Bell (30 points), Ryan Arcidiacono (20 points, 11 assists) and Darrun Hilliard (20 points). Marquette’s 20-game home Big East winning streak was snapped.
Villanova used an early 7-2 run in overtime to control the momentum. The Wildcats made all 11 of their free throws in the extra period as Marquette could not overcome shaky offense. The Golden Eagles relied on Gardner to score all eight of their overtime points.
Marquette trailed the entire game before Mayo scored 10 straight for the Golden Eagles to force overtime. Behind 73-67 with under 40 seconds to go, Mayo made a driving layup and after Villanova missed a pair of free throws, Mayo nailed a short jumper to cut the deficit to two with 22 seconds left.
Arcidiacono converted on two free throws the next possession to make it a four-point game. Derrick Wilson found Mayo in the corner for a 3-pointer to slash the gap to one. Arcidiacono made two more foul shots, and Mayo made three of his own with 4.8 seconds left after he was hacked going up for a long ball.
Bell drove inside and finished on a layup, but was called for a charge on Marquette sophomore Steve Taylor, Jr. that nullified the basket.
Coach Buzz Williams was concerned before the game about matchup issues against a multi-faceted Wildcats team. Although defensive specialist Daniel Ochefu scored five points and was in foul trouble late in the game, the backcourt combo of Bell and Arcidiacono proved to be too much of a handful for the Golden Eagles.
Villanova leading scorer JayVaughn Pinkston scored 12 points, but was held scoreless until the final minute of the first half.
Although Marquette shot 50 percent from the field, it missed easy layups in the closing minutes. The Golden Eagles owned a 54-30 edge in paint points, but credit that to Marquette’s reluctance from the perimeter, where it shot 2-for-11 from three. Villanova finished the day 10-for-28 from behind the arc.
Marquette drops to 3-4 in Big East action and faces Providence at home Thursday.