Seton Hall fuels NCAA Tournament bid with win over Villanova; Wildcats earn Big East title after Marquette loss

By ADAM ZAGORIA

NEWARK — Before a sold-out crowd at the Prudential Center on Saturday afternoon, Seton Hall added fuel to its NCAA Tournament bid and crashed a rival’s celebration party.

The Pirates beat No. 23 Villanova, 79-75, to add to their NCAA Tournament resume and momentarily prevented Villanova from winning their fifth outright Big East regular-season title in six years. The Wildcats did win the Big East crown several hours later when Marquette failed to take care of business at home and lost to Georgetown, 86-84.

Seton Hall is now all but assured of heading to its fourth straight NCAA Tournament under coach Kevin Willard.

“Amazing,” said junior guard Myles Powell, who had 20 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. “I have no words right now. I want to call the seniors [from last year], I told them I was going to hold it down for them. I knew what it would take and we played with our hearts today.”