NEWARK, N.J.– An outstanding first half defensive effort and timely second half offense helped propel No. 3 Villanova past Seton Hall 80-72 Saturday at Prudential Center. Sophomore Jeremiah Robinson-Earl scored 23 points despite playing only 20:46 due to second half foul trouble. Senior Jermaine Samuels added 17 points, Justin Moore had 16 points and Collin Gillespie established a new career high with 11 assists while contributing 11 points. The Wildcats improved to 11-1 overall, 6-0 BIG EAST with their ninth consecutive victory. The Pirates fell to 9-8 overall, 6-5 BIG EAST. "That's a really good road win against an outstanding team," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "They always play us well. We've played each other so much it makes everything difficult. I thought they did a really good job on Collin Gillespie and because they did it was really important that Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Jermaine Samuels stepped up. "Their forwards have great length and for Jermaine to be as effective as he was, especially in the second half when Jeremiah was in foul trouble, was big for us." Five points from Robinson-Earl in the game's first 4:42 helped Villanova edge out to a 9-7 advantage in the game's opening minutes. After a Seton Hall basket tied the game at nine, the Wildcats put together 8-0 spurt capped by a Cole Swider 3-pointer to build a 17-9 lead with 12:15 left in the first half. The Wildcats ability to get stops helped it extend its margin midway through the period. Some nifty passing from Gillespie led to another score by Robinson-Earl and after a Caleb Daniels free throw at the 7:46 mark, Villanova held a 26-12 lead. "I thought that when we had our starters in there in that stretch we were really clicking defensively," said Wright. Villanova pushed its lead to 35-19 on the third 3-pointer of the first half by Moore. But Seton Hall closed on an 8-2 burst to narrow the margin to 37-27 at halftime. The Wildcats limited Seton Hall to 11-of-27 shooting for the period (.407), including 2-of-8 from beyond the 3-point arc. They also forced eight Pirates turnovers which led to a 13-2 advantage in points off of turnovers. Robinson-Earl led all first half scorers with 12 points. The second half more closely resembled the potent scoring that these two teams demonstrated on Jan. 19 at Finneran Pavilion, when Villanova prevailed 76-74. Samuels scored the first four points after the break and Robinson-Earl added five more before picking up his fourth foul at the 16:24 mark of the period. By that juncture the Wildcats held a 46-32 lead. Seton Hall shaved the gap to 46-37 before Samuels scored on a drive and added a free throw to make the count 49-37 with 11:55 to play in the second half. After the Pirates closed to 51-41, the Wildcats got 3-pointers from Samuels, Moore and Caleb Daniels to make it a 60-44 margin with 8:16 on the second half clock. "I thought about bringing Jeremiah back every time they scored," noted Wright. "But we were able to keep scoring ourselves so we were able to hold him out. We got contributions out of Cole, Brandon Slater and Eric. Collin was outstanding in getting the ball to our guys in great scoring position." The Pirates, however, reeled off a 16-7 spurt on the strength of a flurry of 3-pointers, including one by Myles Cale that pulled the Hall to within 67-60 with just over two minutes on the clock. Robinson-Earl did return late to drain some key free throws as the Wildcats were able to keep the Pirates at bay in the final minutes.