Big East Basketball
Villanova Squanders Another Late Lead in Crushing Loss to Hoyas

The Villanova Wildcats blew their third second half lead in the past four games on Monday, Jan. 20, falling 64-63 to the Georgetown Hoyas at home.
Villanova’s last basket came with 4:52 to play, a jumper from Jordan Longino that made it 63-55. From there, they missed five shots and an Eric Dixon free throw — his second chance effort wiped away due to a lane violation — and committed three turnovers.
Villanova committed just one foul in the first 17 minutes of the second half, keeping Georgetown out of the bonus and allowing the Wildcats to foul with impunity in an attempt to disrupt the Hoyas late.
Nevertheless, Georgetown finished the game on a 9-0 run, with Micah Peavy netting the go-ahead layup with 1.7 seconds remaining. Villanova (12-8, 5-4 Big East) called a timeout, but Dixon’s last second heave came up empty.
The Wildcats played more than 32 minutes without senior guard and second-leading scorer Wooga Poplar, who got tossed from the game with 12:27 to play in the first half after throwing an attempted punch at Hoyas’ freshman Thomas Sorber. Sorber shoved Poplar to spark the fracas, and while both players received technical fouls for their role, only Poplar received an ejection.
Dixon dropped 29 points in Poplar’s absence, his highest-scoring game since Dec. 3 against Cincinnati, but it wasn’t enough for the Wildcats to escape with a win.
Villanova built up a double digit lead on multiple occasions on the strength of scoring runs — leading by as much as 13 after a 16-4 run to bookend the half — but it was the Hoyas who came away with the decisive scoring streak.
Villanova will hit the road for their next game, when they face the No. 10 ranked Marquette Golden Eagles in Milwaukee beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 24.