• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Bell, Villanova outlast Marquette in OT

Jan 26, 2014 - 4:03 AM Milwaukee, WI (SportsNetwork.com) - James Bell scored six of his 30 points in overtime to lead the No. 4 Villanova Wildcats to a 94-85 win over the Marquette Golden Eagles.

Coming off its worst loss in the Jay Wright era, a 96-68 drubbing against Creighton on Monday, Villanova (17-2, 6-1 Big East) never trailed in a strong bounce-back effort Saturday.

Marquette's Todd Mayo was fouled by Ryan Arcidiacono shooting a 3-pointer, and Mayo made each attempt to tie the game at 77-77 with 5.2 seconds left in regulation.

Tony Chennault then raced the length of the floor and laid it in as time expired, but the bucket was waived off as the baseline official called a charge. Steve Taylor Jr., who drew the foul, had his right foot in the restricted area when Chennault came crashing into the lane and Wright went ballistic on the Villanova sideline because of the foul call.

The Wildcats, however, didn't allow the foul call at the end of regulation to affect them in the extra session.

Arcidiacono opened the scoring in overtime with a pair of free throws and JayVaughn Pinkston added a three-point play 18 seconds later to give the visitors an 82-77 lead. Devante Gardner answered with a jumper to pull within three, but that is as close as the Golden Eagles would get.

Villanova maintained an advantage for the remainder of overtime and Arcidiacono and Bell combined to go 6-for-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch to close out the win.

"We fought really hard to get it to overtime, but once we got it to overtime they scored every possession," Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. "They scored either layups or free throws that five-minute period."

Arcidiacono netted 20 points with 11 assists, while Darrun Hilliard II had 20 points and Pinkston added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Wildcats.

Gardner paced Marquette (11-9, 3-4) with 29 points to go along with 13 rebounds and Mayo added 18 points off the bench in defeat.

The Golden Eagles have alternated wins and losses over their last 10 games with the last three games heading to overtime.

Villanova was on top 38-31 at the break and Marquette closed the gap to one, 47-46, after a Mayo jumper six minutes into the second. Daniel Ochefu followed with a dunk before Arcidiacono nailed a three to push the lead to six.

The Wildcats led by nine with 2 1/2 minutes left before Marquette made its comeback.

Gardner made a jumper and Jamil Wilson then scored three straight to make it a four-point game. Chennault and Arcidiacono both split a pair at the line and Mayo responded with consecutive buckets to cut the margin to 73-71 with 26 seconds left.

Arcidiacono then hit two free throws before Mayo, who scored the final 10 points for Marquette in regulation, canned a triple to close the gap to one with 14 seconds left. Arcidiacono smoothly knocked down two more free throws on the following possession to set up the final sequence.

Game Notes

Gardner scored all eight Marquette points in overtime ... Wilson finished with 16 points in defeat ... Villanova was 4-for-5 from the field and 9-for-9 from the line in the extra session ... Marquette was 2-for-10 in OT ... The Golden Eagles shot 2-for-11 from beyond the arc, while Villanova made 10-of-28 attempts from deep.