Stevie Mitchell, No. 10 Marquette handle Villanova

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.