Stevie Mitchell had 21 points and Chase Ross added 18 as No. 10 Marquette clamped down on the nation’s top scorer en route to an 87-74 Big East victory over Villanova on Friday night in Milwaukee.

Villanova’s Eric Dixon, who entered averaging 24.9 ppg, finished with 18 points, but 11 of those came in the final 5:24. Dixon hit 7 of 16 shots, including 3 of 8 beyond the arc.

Kam Jones added 16 points and Royce Parham had 10 for Marquette (17-3, 8-1 Big East).

Jordan Longino had a career-high 27 points and Jhamir Brickus scored 12 for Villanova (12-9, 5-5).

Marquette led 36-26 at the half and maintained control after the break.

Mitchell hit a pair of free throws to put Marquette up 56-44, but Villanova answered with a 7-1 run, pulling within 57-51 on two free throws by Longino.

Ross sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around a Villanova basket to put Marquette in front 66-55 with 7:11 remaining.

The Wildcats could not get closer than eight points the rest of the way. Ben Gold’s free throw put the Golden Eagles up 76-61 with 3:25 left. Gold finished with eight points and nine rebounds.

The Golden Eagles had a 16-2 edge in points off turnovers, forcing 13 Villanova miscues. Marquette also had a 38-20 advantage on points in the paint.

Marquette took its biggest lead of the first half at 33-21 on Parham’s lay-in with 1:10 remaining.

Longino countered with a 3-pointer and Tyler Perkins added a lay-in to pull Villanova within 33-26.

Parham’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the right corner made it 36-26 at the half.

Longino had half of Villanova’s points before the break, hitting 5 of 9 shots. The remainder of the Wildcats were a combined 5 for 17. Dixon had just three points.

–Field Level Media