MILWAUKEE _ For a while in the second half, one could excuse Villanova fans for thinking that Marquette could pull off an upset of the nation's No. 1 team at the BMO Harris Bradley Center for the second consecutive season.
But the Wildcats came up with the key plays Sunday in the final minute, getting a steal from freshman Collin Gillespie and a second-chance basket by Dante DiVincenzo with 11 seconds to play to secure an 85-82 victory over the Golden Eagles before a noisy crowd of 17,120.
Playing without Phil Booth, their fourth-leading scorer, who is out indefinitely with a fractured bone in his right hand, the Wildcats (20-1, 7-1 Big East) got 31 points from Jalen Brunson and 23 from DiVincenzo in posting the hard-fought win over Marquette (13-8, 4-5).
The Wildcats lost, 74-72, in their last appearance here on Jan. 24, 2017, while they were the nation's No. 1 team. This time, the Golden Eagles kept scrapping, drawing to within one point with 6 minutes, 39 seconds to play and by three twice, the last time at 83-80 on a 3-pointer by Andrew Rowsey with 1:31 remaining.
After Brunson missed a shot for Villanova, Marquette decided to go for the 2-pointer, but Gillespie slapped the ball out of Sacar Anim's hands as he was driving to the basket for a turnover. Brunson missed at the other end, but Mikal Bridges pulled down the offensive rebound and fed DiVincenzo for the layup that sealed the win.
Rowsey led Marquette with 29 points.
Brunson, who appeared to come down awkwardly on his left ankle following a 3-point make, scored 15 points in the first half to propel the Wildcats to a 49-44 lead. However, the visitors did not play great defense in the opening 20 minutes as the Golden Eagles shot 54.8 percent from the floor.
Brunson took over offensively in the early stages of the second half, outscoring the Golden Eagles 10-0 all by himself, as the Wildcats took a 61-52 lead a little more than five minutes into the period.
However, Brunson went to the floor on a driving layup attempt a while later, came up limping and left the game for a little more than two minutes. Bridges' three-point basket while Brunson was on the bench restored Villanova's nine-point lead at 71-62 with 9:29 to play.
With the score 73-64, Rowsey knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to spark an 8-0 run that got Marquette to within one with 6:39 remaining. But Villanova answered with seven straight points of its own, and Bridges' foul-line jumper made it 80-72 with 5:12 left.
The Golden Eagles never got closer than three after that. They held their last lead at 52-51 two minutes into the second half before Brunson's personal 10-0 run.
