Saddiq Bey scored 20 points, Justin Moore and Jermaine Samuels added 19 apiece, and No. 14 Villanova defeated No. 8 Seton Hall 79-77 on Wednesday in Newark, N.J., preventing the Pirates from clinching an outright Big East regular-season championship.

Collin Gillespie had 12 points, and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl contributed nine points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats (23-7, 12-5 Big East).

Sandro Mamukelashvili led Seton Hall (21-8, 13-4) with 20 points and 10 rebounds while Quincy McKnight added 16 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Myles Powell had 14 points and eight assists despite 5-for-18 shooting, and junior Shavar Reynolds Jr. added a career-high 12 points.

Seton Hall is now just one game up on both Villanova and Creighton (23-7, 12-5) with all three teams heading into their regular-season finales.

Villanova missed five free throws in the final 52 seconds to help Seton Hall get within one possession late. Myles Cale had a chance to drop in the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired, but the shot missed. It also appeared as if the attempt was not released before the clock expired.

McKnight hit a 3-pointer and Powell dropped in a reverse layup to put the Pirates ahead 27-22 with 4:58 left in the first half.

Moore responded with a deep trey and Bey made a 3-pointer from the wing to put Villanova back ahead 28-27 with 1:39 to go before the break. After an empty Seton Hall possession, Gillespie capped a 9-0 run with a 3-pointer for a 31-27 advantage with 43 seconds left.

Villanova led 33-30 at halftime.

When Moore hit a trey with 17:18 remaining, the Wildcats pulled out to a 41-34 advantage. On Villanova's next possession, Bey converted a four-point play to boost the lead to 11 points.

Seton Hall pushed back with a 5-0 run, and Cale's trey closed the gap to 45-39.

Villanova then scored the next eight points with consecutive 3-pointers by Robinson-Earl and Samuels extending the advantage to 53-39 with 14:20 remaining.

The Pirates kept battling and got within 57-52 with 10:02 left when Reynolds knocked down a trey from the corner.

After Seton Hall cut the lead to three, Moore came back with a 3-pointer and Samuels added a layup for a 71-63 Villanova lead with 3:13 left.

--Field Level Media