Tyler Perkins scored 16 points and Acaden Lewis added 15 as Villanova topped visiting Georgetown 66-51 in Big East action Wednesday.
Perkins shot just 5-of-15 from the field and 1-of-7 from 3-point range, while teammate Bryce Lindsay also struggled from the field (4 of 12) en route to 11 points. Perkins swiped four steals for the Wildcats (15-4, 6-2 Big East), while Duke Brennan notched 10 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.
KJ Lewis and Kayvaun Mulready each scored 12 points for Georgetown (9-10, 1-7), which has lost six straight games. The Hoyas shot 34% from the field – the Wildcats weren’t much better at 40.7% – and committed 17 turnovers.
After holding a three-point lead at halftime, Villanova stormed out of the locker room with a 16-1 run.
Lewis began the push with a layup before Perkins added one of his own. Brennan’s jumper made it 32-23 before another Lewis layup gave the Wildcats a double-digit lead for the first time. Shortly thereafter, Perkins and Lindsay made 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to balloon the advantage to 42-24.
With 11:11 remaining, Lindsay’s 3-pointer pushed the lead north of 20 for the first time. Devin Askew’s triple made it 55-31 before the Hoyas began to create some havoc.
Georgetown’s 10-0 run made it a 14-point game with 6:28 left. The visitors got as close as 13 points with under five minutes to go, but Brennan and Malachi Palmer combined to push the lead back to 17.
Neither team led by more than three points until Perkins’ three-point play gave Villanova a 22-18 lead with 4:50 to go in the first half. Georgetown answered with five straight points to go in front, but the Wildcats responded with the final two buckets of the half to jog into the locker room with a 26-23 lead.
Perkins led all first-half scorers with nine points despite shooting 2-of-10 from the field and 0-of-4 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes.
