Seton Hall Pirates vs Villanova Wildcats Box Score on Jan 27, 2019

Phil Booth scored a game-high 25 points Sunday and teammate Eric Paschall added the 1,000th point of his Villanova career as the No. 18 Wildcats stayed undefeated in the Big East Conference with an 80-52 blowout of scuffling Seton Hall at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Paschall, who started his career at Fordham and averaged 15.9 points as a freshman before transferring to Villanova, finished with 17 points and eight rebounds as the Wildcats upped their record to 16-4 overall and 7-0 in the conference. Saddiq Bey chipped in 10 points.

Myles Cale scored 14 points for the Pirates (12-8, 3-5), who lost their fourth straight game and fifth in six games. It was also their 17th consecutive road defeat to Villanova, dating back to February 1994. And this might have been one of the worst performances in that span.

They started the game with a turnover, an omen of what transpired. They finished the first half with 14 turnovers and just 21 shots from the field, and were fortunate to trail just 30-20 at halftime. The Wildcats' offense fired and failed frequently from 3-point land, going only 6 of 19 in the half and converting just 40.7 percent overall.

But Villanova found the range after halftime, turning the last 15 minutes of the game into a blowout. The Wildcats stretched their 10-point halftime lead to 19 in just over four minutes on a Collin Gillespie 3-pointer.

Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard went with a hockey change, subbing one five-man unit for another. The fresh faces helped not one bit as the Wildcats quickly scored eight more unanswered points, upping the lead to 53-26 on a 3-ball by Booth with 13:32 left.

Pirates junior Myles Powell, who entered the game as the conference's leading scorer at 22.2 points per game, made only 1 of 5 shots in 25 minutes and finished with three points. He also committed seven of his team's 18 turnovers.

Villanova ended the day with a season-high 17 3-point makes.

--Field Level Media