Bentil, No. 16 Providence beat No. 4 Villanova 82-76 in OT

After a thrilling, overtime victory over Villanova on the road Sunday in which Providence won 82-76, can the Friars now be considered the new beasts of the Big East? 4 Villanova Sunday in overtime and on Monday received a No. 10 ranking in both major college hoops polls. Six-nine Ben Bentil leads the Big East in scoring (19.8 points per game), just ahead of Dunn (17), and against Villanova amassed a staggering 31 points and 13 rebounds.

The Friars had a chance to win it in regulation, but Dunn’s stepback 3-point attempt at the buzzer clanked off the rim. ABOUT VILLANOVA (17-2, 7-0): Josh Hart, a 6-5 guard, notched his fourth double-double in the last five games with 15 points and 10 boards against Seton Hall. TV: 1 p.m. ET, FoxABOUT PROVIDENCE (16-3, 4-2 Big East): While Wright was thrilled with his seniors after the last game, Providence coach Ed Cooley praised his underclassmen following the win over Butler.

The game seesawed back and forth into the final minute, when Arcidiacono brought the crowd to its feet with a tying 3-pointer with seven seconds left in regulation that knotted matters at 66 and forced overtime.

Villanova had won 22 straight Big East games prior to Sunday’s loss and had not dropped a home game since Doug McDermott’s Creighton team won in Philadelphia two years ago. “He’s a great player, he’s going to beat you one way or the other and he knew we were really trying to prevent him from getting off anything easy and he just found his teammates and made great plays for his teammates”.

Dunn got his teammates involved, which is how Kyron Cartwright ended up with 13 points and Junior Lomomba finished with 12.

Malcolm Regisford had 20 points and eight rebounds to lead Colgate (10-9, 6-2).

“Coach always says leaders have to step up, ” Bentil said. The Musketeers average 7.4 three-pointers per game and have an assist/turnover ratio of 1.26.

Cartwright made both shots after being fouled with 16.2 seconds left, giving Providence a 66-63 lead.

“I thought we were really well prepared coming into this game”, said Wright.

“It’s a play we do every single day in practice, an end of game situation and we just executed it”, Arcidiacono said.

“We just settled and took the first one”, Wright said. He’s also a terrific offensive rebounder. He was subbed, but re-entered 27 seconds later….

“That was a great college basketball game”, stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright, whose Wildcats saw their streak of 22 consecutive BIG EAST victories snapped.

Villanova held an 11-point lead late in the first half, but the Friars went on a 17-5 run that gave them the lead briefly at 35-34 before a three-point basket by Jalen Brunson put the Wildcats back on top at the break.

White led Georgetown with a career-high eight assists and also chipped in two blocks and two steals.

Villanova uses a bus service to transport the pep band, cheerleaders and mascot, as well as students from campus, but the company was unable to provide that service because its busses were snowed in. Darryl Reynolds made his first start of the season in place of Ochefu.