For long stretches of Tuesday night’s return to competition by Villanova, it didn’t appear as if the Wildcats had been away from game action for 27 days.
But just when it looked as if the third-ranked Wildcats might have had things under control, Seton Hall found a second wind that the Cats might have been lacking given their inactivity from two COVID-related pauses.
Still, the Wildcats found a way to win. Cole Swider sank a free throw with 1.9 seconds to play and they survived, 76-74, at Finneran Pavilion.
Villanova held a nine-point lead, 61-52, with just over seven minutes to play but couldn’t find an offense down the stretch, scoring just three points in the final 3:22. The Pirates, led by Sandro Mamukelashvili and Shavar Reynolds, gradually shaved down the deficit.
Mamukelashvili hit a hook shot to tie the score at 72, and set up a layup by Takai Molson for another deadlock at 74 with 52.9 seconds to play. The teams exchanged missed three-pointers and Seton Hall appeared to have the last shot, with Reynolds launching and missing with 5 seconds left.
However, in the scramble for the rebound that followed, the officials called Molson for a foul on Swider. Swider missed the first free throw and then, after a Seton Hall timeout, made the second.
Mamukelashvili could not handle the full-court inbounds pass after the free throw, and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl sank a free throw with 0.5 left for the final margin. Mamukelashvili missed a long, off-balance three at the buzzer.
Collin Gillespie led the Wildcats (9-1, 4-0 Big East) with 22 points and Jermaine Samuels added 20. Mamukelashvili led the Pirates (9-6, 6-3) with 23.
The Wildcats used an 8-0 run to take their largest lead of the game, 61-52, on a follow-up basket by Samuels with 7:21 to play. But Reynolds helped Seton Hall chip away at the deficit, scoring nine points over a stretch of less than three minutes that helped cut the ‘Nova advantage to 70-66 with 3:41 to play.
Samuels then made it a six-point game with a long jumper at the 3:22 mark, but the Wildcats’ offense then stalled.
Neither team led by more than four points in the first half. The Wildcats faced that deficit when the left-handed Mamukelashvili hit a tough, right-handed layup to give the Pirates a 32-28 lead with 4:33 left, but Samuels scored five points in a 10-3 run the rest of the period and the Cats had a 38-35 lead heading into the locker room.
The Wildcats never trailed in the second half. With the score tied at 47, they scored six straight points, the final two on free throws following a technical foul on Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard that were converted by Gillespie with 11:35 left.
Mamukelashvili scored the next five points for the Pirates, but the Wildcats responded with an 8-0 run that was capped by Samuels’ follow-up basket for a 61-52 lead with 7:21 to play.
The two teams combined to shoot 13 of 23 from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes, a surprising development for each one. The Wildcats were coming off a nearly four-week layoff but connected on 7 of 12 from deep (6 of 16 from inside the arc). The Pirates entered the game shooting 33% from the arc, ninth in the Big East.
Gillespie, Samuels and Swider hit two threes apiece and combined for 27 first-half points, with Gillespie leading the way with 10. The Hall’s Jared Rhoden hit his first six shots, three from deep, and led all scorers with 17.
Villanova held a four-point lead on three occasions in the opening half, the final time at 22-18 on Justin Moore’s free throw with 11:19 to play. The Pirates then struck for a quick 5-0 run, with Mamukelashvili’s three-point basket putting the visitors in front 23-22 at the 10-minute mark.
Robinson-Earl’s dunk and Moore’s layup put ‘Nova back in front by three but the Wildcats didn’t hit another field goal for six minutes, scoring just a pair of free throws in that stretch in Seton Hall’s 9-2 run.
Coach Jay Wright decided to bring Jermaine Samuels and Caleb Daniels off the bench, the first time in 10 games he has gone with a different starting lineup. Brandon Slater and Swider started in their place.
