Returning to his hometown, freshman Acaden Lewis scored a career-high 26 points to propel Villanova to an 80-73 Big East Conference victory over Georgetown on Saturday in Washington, D.C.
Duke Brennan put up 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Wildcats (18-5, 9-3 Big East) who won their third straight and completed a regular season sweep of the Hoyas.
Tyler Perkins added 15 points and eight rebounds, and Malachi Palmer scored all 10 of his points in the second half for Villanova which trailed by six points early in the second half before rallying for the victory.
Lewis fueled the comeback with 17 of his points coming in the final 11 minutes. His consecutive 3-pointers just 47 seconds apart gave the Wildcats their biggest lead of the game 77-69 with 1:46 left.
Lewis’ performance helped compensate for subpar showing by Villanova’s top scorer Bryce Lindsay, who missed all eight of his shots, while going 0 of 6 from 3-point range as he failed to score for the first time in two seasons.
Malik Mack scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half for the Hoyas (13-11, 5-8) who were gunning for their fifth straight conference win, a feat they had not accomplished since 2013.
Vince Iwuchukwu came off the bench, adding 15 points with 12 rebounds and KJ Lewis added 13 points for Georgetown, which committed 14 turnovers and were outscored off turnovers 23-3.
Early in the second half, Villanova started a 17-4 run which was ignited by a pair of 3-pointers by Palmer. Perkins added a triple and a jumper from the paint as the Wildcats surged to a 61-54 lead with 10:21 left.
A 3-pointer by Mack with 5:41 tied it 64-all. A slam by Iwuchukwu tied it again at 66-66, before Lewis answered with all but one of the points in an 11-3 spurt which put Villanova in command for good.
Georgetown led through most of the first half but never by more than six points. Villanova gained a pair of one-point advantages, but both were brief as they went into halftime down 40-37.
After Villanova opened the second half with 3-pointers from Matt Hodge and Perkins to take a 43-40 lead, Georgetown answered with a 10-1 run.
The spree was bookended by 3-pointers from Caleb Williams and Mack as the Hoyas grabbed a 50-44 advantage.
– Field Level Media
