MILWAUKEE — Kam Jones scored 22 points, Tyler Kolek had 21 points and 11 assists and No. 17 Marquette pulled away in the second half to snap a two-game skid with an 87-74 victory over Villanova on Monday.
Oso Ighodaro added 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals as Marquette continually worked the ball inside. Marquette had a 60-18 edge in paint points.
Marquette (12-5, 3-3 Big East) bounced back five days after a 69-62 loss to Butler that ended the Golden Eagles' 20-game home conference winning streak, which had tied a Big East record. Marquette outscored Villanova 30-17 over the last nine minutes.
Mark Armstrong had a career-high 24 points for Villanova. Eric Dixon had 15 points and Brendan Hausen added 11 points.
Kolek had eight points during a 12-0 run that enabled Marquette to pull ahead for good and beat Villanova (11-6, 4-2) for a fifth straight time, the Golden Eagles’ longest win streak in this series’ 44-game history.
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After trailing by 10 points early in the second half, Villanova tied the game at 57-all on Dixon’s 3-pointer with 10:01 remaining. But the Wildcats wouldn’t score again for over 4 ½ minutes as Marquette again grabbed a double-digit advantage.
Kolek scored the last six points during the 12-0 spurt that put Marquette ahead for good. The 2022-23 Big East player of the year shot 7 of 14 to break out of his slump.
During Marquette’s two-game losing streak, Kolek had averaged just 3.5 points while shooting 2 of 19 overall and 1 of 10 from 3-point range.
