By Sean Kennedy
Villanova 73, Marquette 56
26 was the magic number for Villanova Sunday as Darrun Hilliard’s career-high 26 points led them to their school-record 26th regular-season victory. Hilliard was on fire in the first half as the Wildcats raced out to a double-digit lead. He scored 18 on 4-7 three-point shooting in the opening frame, including a beautiful catch-and shoot on the wing as time was expiring before halftime. That three at the buzzer was part of a 14-2 Villanova run after Marquette coach Buzz Williams picked up a technical foul for aruging that his player had called timeout before going out of bounds.
The Wildcats hit 12 threes on the game as they displayed beautiful ball movement all afternoon around the perimeter. The one down spot was James Bell, who came into play needing just 6 points to reach 1,000 on his career, but was held scoreless by the Golden Eagles. Bell picked up 2 fouls 5 minutes into the game, sat the rest of the first half, and was never able to find a rhythm thereafter. He’ll likely reach that mark when the Wildcats travel to Xavier on Thursday.
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