Box Score BOSTON - Jalen Brunson scored 27 points to power top-seeded Villanova to an 90-78 victory over fifth-seeded West Virginia tonight in the first NCAA East regional semifinal game here at TD Garden in Boston.
 
The Wildcats were trailing 60-54, with 11:08 remaining after Jevon Carter's layup, but Villanova answered with 11 straight points when the team fouls began mounting for the Mountaineers.
 
Villanova (33-4) got four free throws during the run, one coming on a three-point play by Brunson when he was fouled by Esa Ahmad on his made layup; Mikal Bridges banged in a 3 to put the Wildcats ahead by three, and Omari Spellman punctuated the run when he hustled down the floor after blocking James Bolden's shot to slam home Phil Booth's missed layup.
 
"Well, they miss a free throw, and we don't block out," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "They get the ball back and hit a three. So, it goes from six to two in a hurry. We had shots. We didn't make them. They made open shots. We didn't make open shots."
 
Following a West Virginia timeout, Teddy Allen ended the drought with a pair of free throws, but Donte DiVencenzo answered with a 3 and another Spellman 3 gave the Wildcats a 71-64 lead.
 
The Wildcat margin soon swelled to 10 on Brunson's third triple with 5:37 left.
 
West Virginia (26-11) withstood an early Villanova shooting barrage that saw the Wildcats make their first seven shots of the game to build an early 14-8 advantage.
 
Daxter Miles Jr., who led the Mountaineers with 16 before fouling out with 2:12 left in the game, got a 3 from the wing to go down. Then a Sagaba Konate basket close to the goal and a Miles straight-on bank shot pulled them to within one.
 
West Virginia took its first lead, 25-24, on a Carter 3, and led 33-30 following an eight-point flurry that was capped by Lamont West's layup off a steal by Ahmad.
 
Brunson's 3 and then a three-point play when he was fouled by Allen while scoring close to the basket put the Wildcats back into the lead, and they led 44-40 with 49 seconds left on Eric Paschall's 3 from the wing.
 
Ahmad's dunk with 20 seconds remaining pulled WVU to within 44-42 at halftime.
 
To begin the second half, Villanova's only field goal for a six-minute stretch was Paschall's 3. The Wildcats then missed their next seven field goal attempts, as it appeared West Virginia was beginning to assuming control of the game.
 
A Miles Jr. step-back basket, a couple of Konate baskets, a Carter baseline fade away and Ahmad's bucket with 14:56 remaining gave the Mountaineers a 52-47 lead.
 
But the fouls were accumulating on West Virginia, some of them foolish ones far away from the basket, which eventually put the Wildcats into the double-bonus when West fouled Brunson with 11 minutes to go - that coming four minutes after Miles Jr. picked up his fourth foul.
 
"When the whistle keeps blowing, it really takes away your aggression," Huggins said. "And then J.C. had three; Dax had four. They're the heart and soul of this team. They're the guys that everybody looks to. They're the guys that who make things happen."
 
Konate then picked up two quick ones and was whistled for his fourth foul with 6:20 to go when a double-technical was called on him and Spellman and the Wildcats leading by seven.
 
A minute later, the game turned when Brunson's 3 made the lead 10.
 
West Virginia went cold, missing several layups when it was desperately trying to get back into the game.
 
"At this time of year, if you want to win in March, you have to make open shots," Huggins said. "They made open shots, we didn't. We got way more shots than they got. We just didn't make them."
 
Overall, the Mountaineers shot just 38.6 percent from the floor, misfiring on 21 of their 28 3-point attempts for 25 percent.
 
Villanova hit 13 of its 24 triples for 54.2 percent and finished the game shooting 50 percent overall.
 
"I felt like we gave it everything we had," Carter said. "We just didn't make shots tonight, and Villanova did. Good luck to them in the future."
 
The Wildcats also made 23 of 27 from the free throw line and did a much better job handling the basketball in the second half against West Virginia's pressure after committing nine turnovers in the first half.
 
Spellman contributed 18, Bridges scored 16 and Paschall added 14 for Villanova, while Carter and Konate scored 12 each for West Virginia.
 
Ahmad finished with 11 and Allen scored 10.
 
Carter, playing in his third Sweet 16 game at WVU, ended his brilliant four-year career with 1,758 points, 559 assists and 330 steals. He finishes eighth at WVU in scoring and first in career assists and steals.
 
Miles Jr. ended his career with 1,311 points, moving past forward Maurice Robinson for 25^th place in scoring.
 
"These two guys have been -- as good of players as they are, and they're very good players -- they're going to go down as probably -- well, not probably -- the best four-year backcourt in the history of West Virginia basketball, and that's saying a lot," Huggins said. "But what they do off the floor, they're both really good students. They're both going to graduate on time."