No. 12 Villanova beats Xavier 64-55 for 4th straight win

CINCINNATI (AP) — Saddiq Bey scored 22 points and No. 12 Villanova extended its late-February surge, beating Xavier 64-55 Saturday for its fourth straight win.

The Wildcats (21-6, 10-4 Big East) have recovered from a three-game losing streak that knocked them out of the league lead. They’ve won three road games during the streak, with victories at Temple, DePaul and Xavier.

The Musketeers (17-10, 6-8) were held to a season low in points while getting swept by Villanova. Tyrique Jones had his ninth straight double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Jermaine Samuels added 17 points for the Wildcats, who never trailed.

Villanova made 18 3s — one shy of the school record — during a 91-71 win at DePaul on Wednesday, extending a trend of hot outside shooting during the Wildcats’ resurgence. They missed their first four shots from beyond the arc against Xavier, which has the league’s top 3-point defense.

Bey finally hit a pair of 3s as Villanova pulled ahead 23-12, with Xavier missing 15 of its first 20 shots overall. Naji Marshall made a 3 as Xavier cut the lead to four points, but Xavier failed to score over the final 4:18 of the half, which ended with Villanova ahead 30-21.

Jones has been the catalyst in Xavier’s recent surge but missed all of his five shots in the first half and picked up a pair of fouls.

Bey had a dunk and a 3-pointer that extended the lead to 40-26. Jones emerged from his shooting slump and made three straight shots as Xavier cut the lead to six points, but Samuels had a layup and a 3-pointer that rebuilt the lead to 53-39 and Villanova was never threatened again.

BIG PICTURE

Villanova: Improved 3-point shooting has been a key ingredient in the Wildcats’ latest winning streak. They’d made at least nine 3s in each of the previous five games. Against Xavier, the outside shots didn’t fall as easily — they went only 7 of 29 — but the Wildcats’ defense made the difference.

Xavier: The Musketeers lost six of their first eight Big East games but had won four of their last five led by Jones and Marshall, who gave them an inside-out scoring threat. Jones was negated by Villanova’s interior defense in the first half, and Marshall didn’t make much of an impact while finishing with 15 points.

UP NEXT

Villanova ends a three-game road swing by hosting St. John’s on Wednesday. The Wildcats won at SS. John’s 79-59 on Jan. 28.

Xavier hosts DePaul on Tuesday. The Musketeers won at DePaul 67-59 on Feb. 4.