WASHINGTON _ Defense and keeping the opponent from grabbing offensive rebounds, the two areas that hurt Villanova a few nights ago against St. John's, reared their ugly heads again Wednesday night, this time in the nation's capital.
Georgetown took the initiative early on the boards and stayed around the 50 percent shooting mark for much of the game and the 17th-ranked Wildcats had no answers, losing an 85-73 Big East decision to the Hoyas at Capital One Arena.
With their third loss in the last four games, the Wildcats (20-7, 11-3 Big East) saw their nine-game winning streak snapped against the Hoyas (16-10, 6-7), who last defeated Villanova on Jan. 19, 2015 at the same venue. Villanova also lost back-to-back Big East games for the first time since Feb. 23 and March 2, 2013.
The Hoyas, who shot 50.9 percent, were led by two players who had subpar games in the season's first meeting between the teams. Mac McClung, who scored four points in the Feb. 3 victory by the Wildcats, led the Hoyas with 21 points. Jessie Govan, scoreless in the earlier contest, also had 21 points to go with 11 rebounds.
The Wildcats again counted on their two seniors, Phil Booth with 26 points and Eric Paschall with 16, for offense. But other than Saddiq Bey, who had nine points, 10 rebounds and five assists, there was no other consistent scorer. Villanova shot just 24 percent (9 of 38) from 3-point range.
The Hoyas outscored Villanova, 11-2, on second-chance points and outrebounded the visitors, 39-33.
Georgetown took a 14-point lead in the first half and held a 42-32 advantage at the break behind 51.7 percent shooting and 17 points from McClung, along with a 20-10 rebounding edge.
The Wildcats, who made just 39 percent of their field-goal attempts in the opening half, cut into the deficit early in the second half. Paschall's steal and pass leading to Bey's dunk brought the Cats to within 44-38 with just under 17 minutes remaining.
That was as close as the visitors would get. Govan followed with conventional three-point plays on back-to-back possessions and the Hoyas then scored eight straight points to boost the margin to 15, 58-43, on Govan's 3-point basket with 13:12 to play.
Villanova cut the deficit to single digits just once after that, 60-51 on two free throws by Paschall at the 10:51 mark. Georgetown answered with a 15-3 run over the 5:46 with the help of 3-point baskets by three bench players _ Trey Mourning, Greg Malinowski and Jahvon Blair.
Two free throws by McClung made it a 19-point advantage, 73-54, with 5:05 to play.
Villanova appeared a step slow on defense from the outset but did enough offensively to make it a close game in the opening 10 minutes, trailing 19-17. But McClung gave the Hoyas some breathing room when he scored nine straight points _ two 3-pointers and a conventional three-point play _ to spark Georgetown to a 34-26 lead with 4:37 left.
The Wildcats managed just one field goal on their next 10 shots, and James Akinjo and Jamorko Pickett each knocked down a 3-pointer to give Georgetown its largest lead of the half, 42-28, with 1:57 to play. The Cats capitalized on a blocked shot by Paschall and Bey's steal, converting them into a Bey dunk and two free throws by Gillespie to narrow the gap to 10 by the buzzer.
