Eric Dixon scored 24 of his 28 points in the second half, including the go-ahead free throw with 18 seconds remaining, and Villanova outlasted Southern California 60-59 in the quarterfinal round of the College Basketball Crown on Thursday in Las Vegas.
Dixon, who became the program’s all-time scoring leader in the opening round of the inaugural College Basketball Crown, extended his record with a monster second half to lead Villanova (21-14).
Dixon put up all but nine of the Wildcats’ second-half points, and he grabbed a critical rebound with three seconds left as Desmond Claude’s would-be go-ahead layup for USC rimmed out.
On the previous possession, Dixon broke a 59-59 tie when he hit the first of two free throws earned when he drew contact from Rashaun Agee on a jump-shot attempt.
Villanova erased a second-half deficit of 12 points, which USC (17-18) built with a 10-2 run coming out of halftime.
Saint Thomas scored all 10 USC points in the spurt, including a pair of 3-pointers, highlighting his team-leading 23-point performance. He also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
Agee added 22 points for the Trojans, who were without Chibuzo Agbo and Wesley Yates III, two of the team’s top scorers during the season.
Thomas and Agee, along with Claude (10 points), were responsible for all but four of USC’s points.
Likewise, Villanova got 16 points from Wooga Poplar and 10 from Jhamir Brickus. Two of Brickus’ points came on a tiebreaking pull-up jumper with 4:04 remaining, answering the last of Thomas’ three 3-pointers.
All six of the remaining Wildcats points not accounted for by Dixon, Poplar or Brickus came from Enoch Boakye, who also grabbed eight rebounds.
The win sends Villanova to Saturday’s semifinals to face UCF, which beat Cincinnati 88-80 earlier on Thursday.
–Field Level Media
