NEW YORK _ Villanova had no reason to believe that its Big East tournament championship game Saturday night would be as free-flowing as its two earlier contests were, with Providence ready to match them in hustle and physicality.
The game was just as much of a grind as advertised. Players picked themselves up off the floor time and again after diving for loose balls or losing their balance on drives to the hoop. The offenses weren't great but the defenses dug in on every possession.
The game went into overtime and the Wildcats prevailed, with Jalen Brunson scoring four of his game-high 31 points in an 8-0 run that covered the final 1 minute, 16 seconds, giving Villanova a 76-66 victory over the Friars before a sellout crowd of 19,812 at Madison Square Garden.
Villanova (30-4) won its second straight tournament title, and third in the last four years. The Wildcats also all but locked up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Mikal Bridges added 25 points for the Wildcats, six in the overtime. Villanova also gutted it out on the boards, gaining a 41-36 rebound advantage with Eric Paschall pulling down 13 and Omari Spellman nine.
Bridges' trey and a basket by Spellman helped the Cats gain a 65-64 lead midway through the extra period, and another trey by Bridges was answered by a layup from Alpha Diallo (22 points, 10 rebounds), making it 68-66 with 1:32 to play.
But Brunson knocked down a 15-footer just before the shot clock buzzer and Donte DiVincenzo hit both ended of a one-and-one to make it a six-point game with 33.9 seconds remaining. Bridges then blocked a shot by Diallo, leading to Brunson's dunk, and DiVincenzo wrapped up the scoring with a layup.
Kyron Cartwright added 19 points for Providence (21-13), which all but assured itself an NCAA bid after playing its third overtime game in as many days.
The Friars scored 11 straight points _ eight by Cartwright _ to take their first lead of the game, 52-51, on a three-point play by Drew Edwards with 7:49 remaining. Bridges regained some equilibrium for the Wildcats with a layup off an offensive rebound and a 3-pointer to help his team regain the lead at 56-52 with 5:35 left.
Paschall later restored the four-point advantage for 'Nova, 58-54, with a tough inside move with 4:27 left, but the Wildcats would not score another basket in regulation. Providence ran off six straight and regained the lead at 60-58 on Diallo's layup with 40.7 seconds left.
Brunson, who had missed the front end of a one-and-one earlier, converted a one-and-one with 30.1 seconds left to tie it, and Cartwright missed a final shot for the Friars at the buzzer.
Leading, 31-27, at halftime, the Wildcats scored the first eight points of the second half, all of them by Brunson, to take their largest lead of the game at 39-27. They led by 12 points on two other occasions, and a tough inside basket by Paschall gave them a 51-41 advantage with 11:11 remaining.
But Villanova went cold and Cartwright got hot, and Providence got back into the game.
The two teams dug in on defense in the opening half with neither able to get much of an offensive flow going. The Wildcats led despite shooting only 37.9 percent from the floor, including 5 of 15 on 3-pointers. They did force eight turnovers but Providence outscored them in the paint, 18-8, and outrebounded them, 19-14.
Brunson scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting and three 3s, and Bridges added 12, going 4 of 6 from the field. But the rest of the team managed just six points on 2 of 15 overall.
