Villanova downs Marquette, remains alive for No. 1 seed in Big East | Zagsblog
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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Friday / March 29.
  • Villanova downs Marquette, remains alive for No. 1 seed in Big East

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    By ADAM ZAGORIA

    Don’t count out Villanova just yet.

    With their 67-61 victory over No. 10 Marquette on Wednesday night, the Wildcats remained alive for the Big East regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament.

    A Marquette win would’ve given the Golden Eagles the No. 1 seed and at least a share of the regular-season title.

    Villanova (21-8, 12-4) also owns the tiebreaker over Marquette (23-5, 12-3) because they own a win over St. John’s and Marquette does not.

    “We had to step it up, we just had to step it up,” Villanova coach Jay Wright told Billy Raftery on FS1. “Marquette’s a great team. What a great team, man. Great Big East game. They’re going to be really good. They could be a Final Four team.”

    The Wildcats closed the game on a 12-1 run and got a career-high 29 points and 9 rebounds from sophomore Jermaine Samuels and 17 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds from Phil Booth. Entering the night, Samuels was averaging 4.4 points with a career-high of 15.

    “Jermaine has been playing a role for us, and being very unselfish,” Wright said. “Tonight we needed to let him go. We knew they weren’t going to guard him. He played his butt off and I’m so happy for him. He’s a wonderful kid.”

    Big East Player of the Year favorite Markus Howard shot 8-of-19 for 25 points for Marquette. He added 4 assists and 2 rebounds.

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    Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle. A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.

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