Credit: Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
Eric Dixon supplied 18 points and Brendan Hausen chipped in 17 Sunday as Villanova smashed visiting Seton Hall 80-54 in Big East action at Philadelphia.
TJ Bamba added 14 points and Mark Armstrong pitched in 12 for the Wildcats (13-11, 6-7 Big East), who had dropped six of their previous seven games. They authored a much more complete effort Sunday, shooting 53.6 percent from the floor and a crisp 14 of 30 from 3-point range.
Hausen led the way from beyond the arc with five 3-pointers in eight attempts, while Armstrong, Bamba and Dixon all went 2 of 4 from long range.
Seton Hall (15-9, 8-5) shot just 40 percent overall and 9 of 30 from long distance, while committing 15 turnovers. Al-Amir Dawes (14 points) and Kadary Richmond (12) were the Pirates’ leading scorers as their brief two-game winning streak came to an end.
The game was relatively close over the first 15 minutes, as Villanova led 26-21 with just under five minutes to go in the first half. A layup by Dixon ignited a 10-0 burst that gave the hosts some breathing room and they never looked back.
Dixon followed with a 3-pointer to create the game’s first double-digit lead. Then, Hausen added a 3-pointer of his own before Bamba’s transition layup made it 36-21.
The teams traded long-range shots late in the half, as Villanova entered the locker room with a 39-24 cushion.
About seven minutes into the second half, the Wildcats embarked on a 9-0 run to turn a 45-34 lead into a commanding 20-point advantage. Dixon had two buckets during the burst.
In another scoring surge, Villanova drained three 3-pointers (courtesy of Jordan Longino, Hausen and Bamba) in a quick 11-0 run that ballooned the lead to 70-41 with 5:09 remaining.
Seton Hall never got the deficit under 24 over the final 6:57.
–Field Level Media