PHILADELPHIA _ Villanova welcomed back Phil Booth to the court Wednesday night after a four-week absence and the redshirt junior guard seamlessly moved back into the lineup as if he had been gone for four days.
The third-ranked Wildcats raced out to an 18-point first-half lead and were never threatened after that in a 93-62 victory over DePaul at the Wells Fargo Center, enabling them to keep pace with Xavier in the race for first place in the Big East.
Villanova (25-3, 12-3), which shot 59.6 percent from the field in defeating the Blue Demons (10-17, 3-12) for the 16th straight time, remained a half-game behind the Musketeers. Xavier defeated Georgetown to improve to 13-3 in the conference.
Booth, who suffered a broken bone in his right (shooting) hand late in a Jan. 23 victory over Providence and missed seven games, played 16 minutes off the bench and scored 14 points. He shot 4 of 6 from the field and made two 3-point baskets in four tries.
Booth, who played with a wrap on the back of his hand, left the game with 12 minutes, 17 seconds to play after taking a stray finger to his right eye under the boards, but he returned a little more than four minutes later.
Mikal Bridges, who shot 9 of 12 from the field and knocked down four 3-point baskets, led the Wildcats with 27 points and Eric Paschall added 16. Jalen Brunson contributed 11 points and seven assists.
The Blue Demons, who shot 43.3 percent from the field, were led by Max Strus with 21 points.
DePaul came out determined to take away the 3-point arc from the Wildcats, who did not make their first 3-point basket until Booth connected with 8:07 to play in the first half. The Cats, however, still managed to shoot 59.3 percent in the opening period _ 66.7 percent on two-point baskets _ and led 46-30 at intermission.
The two teams were locked in a 16-16 tie before Villanova opened some daylight with a 6-0 run sparked by Booth's driving layup. Leading by five, Villanova later outscored the Blue Demons 13-2 over a 3{-minute span to take a 40-24 lead on Donte DiVincenzo's layup with 2:58 left in the first half. Booth's 3-pointer extended the Cats' lead to 18 just before the halftime buzzer.
The Wildcats scored the first 10 points of the second half to take a 56-30 lead before the period was two minutes old and the Blue Demons never got closer than 20 points after that. A driving layup from Brunson with 10 minutes to play gave the Cats a 76-46 lead, and a 3-pointer by Omari Spellman at the 4:50 mark restored the 30-point margin at 88-58.
The Wildcats shot 60 percent from the field in the second half.
