Villanova strikes early, blows by lowly Georgetown

Cam Whitmore had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Justin Moore scored 13 points and sixth-seeded Villanova defeated 11th-seeded Georgetown 80-48 on Wednesday in the first round of the Big East tournament in New York.

Brandon Slater, Mark Armstrong and Brendan Hausen each added 10 points for the Wildcats (17-15), who will now face third-seeded Creighton (20-11) in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Primo Spears led Georgetown with 17 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Jay Heath added eight points and eight rebounds but shot 3 of 14 from the field. Brandon Murray also contributed eight points.

The Hoyas (7-25) shot 19 of 56 from the field, including 3 of 20 from 3-point territory. They lost their final four games and 10 of their last 11.

Whitmore knocked down a 3-pointer with 13:17 remaining in the second half and Villanova went ahead 54-29.

The Wildcats kept the pressure on when Slater completed a three-point play with 11:00 left for a 58-33 advantage.

Heath missed eight of his first nine shots but hit a runner in the lane on Georgetown's next trip.

Hausen made a deep trey with 6:22 to go for a commanding 68-40 Villanova lead.

Georgetown never threatened the rest of the game and found itself on the wrong end of a 9-2 run over the final 3 1/2 minutes.

Villanova used an early 14-0 run to go ahead 20-8.

When Whitmore drove to the basket and scored with 6:43 left in the first half, the Wildcats led 31-13 following an 11-0 spurt.

Spears hit a difficult shot in the lane on Georgetown's next possession.

Villanova surged to a 41-20 lead at halftime thanks in large part to 12 points from Moore on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point territory.

Spears paced the Hoyas with nine points before the break, but Georgetown made just 9 of 27 shots (33.3 percent) from the field and got just two points from its bench.