SAN ANTONIO _ Donte DiVincenzo had come to the rescue before for Villanova in the NCAA tournament, putting up 18 first-half points to get the Wildcats out of the doldrums in a second-round win over Alabama.
DiVincenzo did it again on Monday night, and in doing so, carried the Cats to their second national championship in the last three years.
DiVincenzo scored 31 points, a career high and a record for most points by a non-starter in an NCAA tournament game, to propel Villanova to a 79-62 victory over Michigan at the Alamodome.
The Wildcats, the No. 1 seed and East Region champs, finished the season with a team-record 36 victories against only four losses, winning their third national championship overall. They won all six NCAA games by double digits, by an average margin of more than 17 points.
DiVincenzo shot 10 of 15 from the floor and 5 of 7 from three-point range in establishing a career high. He also was the last guy to dribble the ball for Villanova, heaving the basketball skyward at the buzzer.
Mikal Bridges added 19 points for the Wildcats. Jalen Brunson, who sat out 7 { minutes of the second half in foul trouble, managed just nine, but it didn't matter. The Cats shot 50 percent from the field in the second half and 47.4 percent for the game, while limiting the Wolverines (33-8) to 43.6 percent.
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman led Michigan with 23 points and Moritz "Moe" Wagner added 16.
DiVincenzo's big first half carried Villanova out of a seven-point hole midway through the half. He went 7 of 10 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, including 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range, sparking Villanova to a 37-28 lead. The rest of the team went 7 of 21 from the field and 1 of 9 from three in the opening half while accounting for 19 points.
The Wildcats extended their lead to as many as 18 early in the second half, with a three-pointer by Mikal Bridges giving them a 51-33 lead with 14:37 left to play. But Brunson went to the bench with 10:51 to play after picking up his fourth personal foul and Michigan showed some life, cutting the deficit to 56-44 on Charles Matthews' layup with 9:08 remaining.
DiVincenzo, however, then stepped up and drilled back-to-back three-pointers 52 seconds apart to increase the margin back to 18, and later he hit both ends of a one-and-one. Bridges then took over with a pair of threes and two free throws to get the lead up to 22, 74-52, with 3:50 remaining.
Brunson wound up sitting out for 7:30 and the Wildcats' advantage went from 13 points to 20.
The defense also kicked in after Michigan's 8-of-12 start. The Wolverines connected on just three of their final 16 attempts in the half and experienced droughts of 5:12 and 3:33. Wagner scored 11 points in the first nine minutes, but he did not have a single point the rest of the period.
The Wildcats got off to a slow start defensively as Michigan kept driving to the basket and either scoring or drawing fouls. The Wolverines deposited six layups in their first eight baskets and took a 21-14 lead on Wagner's pick-and-roll layup with 11 minutes remaining.
At that point in the game, Villanova was just 6 of 15, including 1 of 7 on three-point tries.
But the Wildcats outscored their opponent 23-7 the remainder of the half and DiVincenzo played an important role in the comeback. He answered Wagner's basket with a jumper from the top of the key, giving him eight straight points for 'Nova.
A three-pointer by the sophomore with 6:08 to play gave the Wildcats their first lead since 2-0, and he added another trey and a driving lefthanded layup on back-to-back possessions to make it 30-26 with 4:07 to play. He finished his first-half scoring burst with a back-door cut and pass from Brunson that resulted in a layup.
Michigan didn't score in the final 3 { minutes of the first half and the Wildcats closed out the period with a 7-0 run to take a 37-28 lead.
