PHILADELPHIA _ Villanova and Seton Hall played the game of the season in the Big East Saturday with both teams showing their chops on the defensive end for much of the day.
But the 10th-ranked Wildcats didn't make enough shots and the Pirates knocked down nine 3-point attempts, six of them in the second half, to come out with a 70-64 victory before a sellout crowd of 20,706 at Wells Fargo Center.
The Wildcats (17-6, 7-4 Big East) lost their third straight game, and second in a row in South Philadelphia. The Pirates (18-5, 10-1) snapped a 17-game losing streak at Villanova, improved to 6-0 on the road in the conference and extended their first-place lead over the Cats to three games with seven to play.
Villanova overcame a lethargic start to take a 31-27 lead at the half and led 34-33 on Saddiq Bey's 3-pointer with 16 minutes to play. That, however, would be their last lead as Seton Hall shot 45% from the field in the second half, including 6 of 12 from 3-point range.
With Seton Hall holding a 46-42 lead, Myles Powell, the Big East's No. 2 scorer with a 22.0-point average, went to the bench after picking up his fourth personal foul with 9:31 remaining. But when he returned at the 4:54 mark, the Pirates still held a four-point lead.
Nova had twice cut the deficit to a single point while he sat, the second time at 50-49 on Bey's jumper with 6:48 to play but was unable to take the advantage.
The Wildcats had no answer for Sandro Mamukelashvili, who scored eight points in a five-minute stretch, including one basket where he missed two shots but got his own rebound after each, and sank the third one to make it 57-51.
A 3 by Bey brought the Cats to within three at 61-58 with 1:39 left but Quincy McKnight and Shavar Reynolds scored the Pirates last nine points on free throws.
Bey led the Wildcats with 22 points. Collin Gillespie added 12 but shot 4 of 14 and missed all five of his 3-point tries. Powell scored 19 points, connecting on 7 of 16 shots overall and 3 of 9 from 3-point range, with Mamukelashvili adding 17.
The Cats connected on just 36.1% of their field-goal attempts and went 9 of 27 from 3. They were outrebounded 43-32.
