Box Score

Villanova scored the first 19 points of the game and pulled away for an 87-68 win over Butler Friday night in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament in New York City.

The Wildcats, ranked in the top five nationally and the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, made 14 three-pointers.

"Start off by saying that's a heck of a basketball team that we just played," said Butler coach LaVall Jordan. "A lot of credit goes to them for coming out with the level of intensity that they did. Obviously they made a ton of shots.
 
"But I'm extremely proud of our group for just responding. After the first big run it was even after that. If you spot a team like that 16, 19 points, it's going to be really tough to dig out of that."

After Villanova's lead would grow to as many as 21 midway through the first half, Butler was able to chip away at the deficit, cutting it to 33-19 with 4:27 to play in the opening half. Another spurt by Villanova – capped by a Phil Booth three-pointer at the first half horn – had the lead back at 19 entering the second half.

Butler would get the lead down to 15 in the opening minutes of the second half, but that would be as close as the Bulldogs would get. The lead ballooned to 27 with 10 minutes to play.

Mikal Bridges led five Wildcats in double figures with 18 points. Villanova shot 48 percent from the field, including 14-of-34 from three-point range. Omari Spellman had 12 rebounds, leading a Villanova 37-25 advantage on the boards.

Kelan Martin paced Butler with 13 points and four assists. Kamar Baldwin had 12, followed by Paul Jorgensen (11) and Tyler Wideman (10). Butler shot 48 percent from the field, suffering its first loss of the season when out-shooting its opponent (18-1).

Villanova is now 29-4 on the season and will play Providence in Saturday's BIG EAST Tournament championship game.

Butler is 20-13 and will await its postseason destination Sunday night. The Bulldogs are in search of their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, and the tenth in the last 12 seasons.