VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova built a 19-point first half lead and then persevered when its lead shrank to five points in the second half to post a 72-60 victory over No. 14 Creighton Wednesday night at Finneran Pavilion. The victory boosts the Wildcats record to 16-4 overall, 11-3 BIG EAST and secured them their seventh BIG EAST regular season title in the past eight seasons. All of that, however was overshadowed by a first half knee injury suffered by Bob Cousy Award finalist Collin Gillespie. Gillespie was injured on a play under the Creighton basket and came up favoring his left knee. He did not return to the game and Villanova head coach Jay Wright offered a less than encouraging update in his postgame Zoom news conference. "Our trainer (Dan Erickson) said it looks pretty serious," said Wright. "He's going to get an MRI (Thursday). We're not going to speculate but he's not saying he'll be fine. So this is all very bittersweet." Villanova prevailed in large part by stifling the same Bluejays offense which connected on 59 percent of its field goal attempts and 86 points in the first meeting between these two teams in Omaha last month. This time, Creighton connected on just .387 of its field goal attempts and was 10-of-33 from beyond the arc. Sophomore Justin Moore dropped in 9-of-12 field goal attempts and finished with 24 points to go with five assists, five rebounds and zero turnovers. He carried much of the ballhandling load in the second half as Gillespie watched from a seat near the team bench on the baseline. "We just assumed Justin would be our point guard next year if he doesn't leave early," said Wright. "You never know but we were very comfortable with that. When Collin's out – which isn't very often – we're still pretty good with Justin at the point. We just don't like to have Collin out of the game." Creighton reeled off the first five points of the night before the Wildcats had attempted a field goal. But Gillespie got the 'Cats going with a corner 3-ball and that ignited a 15-2 spurt that gave VU a 17-7 lead with 11:14 of the period. Central to that effort was a defense that held the Bluejays without a field goal for 5:35. The Wildcats extended that lead to 31-15, with Moore's scoring fueling much of the surge. When Moore picked up his second foul with 6:23 in the period, Gillespie returned to the floor. But in a collision under the Creighton basket, Gillespie went to the ground. After being helped to his feet, he limped off the floor. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl took the reins at point guard and helped the Wildcats finish the half strong without their two primary ballhandlers. Villanova closed the period with a 42-23 lead over the Bluejays. They connected on .545 of their field goal attempts and limited the Blue Jays to 9-of-31 shooting for the period. "We were going to try Jeremiah at the point to steal some minutes with Justin in foul trouble," Wright said. "But we actually increased our lead because Jeremiah did such a good job. The smooth offense carried Villanova to a 57-35 lead early in the period as Moore scored nine points in that stretch. But Creighton bounced right back with a 12-0 spurt to close the gap to 57-47 with 10:25 to play in the period. Without its on-court leader, the Wildcats' offense struggled to find a flow against the Bluejays, who pressed out on the perimeter. Villanova missed 1-of-9 field goal attempts over a seven-minute stretch midway through the period. When Mitch Ballock drained a 3-pointer with 7:25 left the lead was down to 57-50. Another bucket extended the run to 17-0. Yet the Wildcats got a stop and a basket from Robinson-Earl – who had his fifth double-double of the season and second straight with 14 points and 14 rebounds – to halt the run. Later, Brandon Slater sank a dagger of a 3-pointer from the right corner to give the Wildcats some breathing room at 62-54. The final was 72-60. Further adding to the tinge of sadness was the fact that prior to the game Gillespie and classmates Kevin Hoehn, Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree and Jermaine Samuels were honored in Senior Night ceremonies. "There's probably not been one player who has had the impact on one team here that Collin has had for us," said Wright. "He's our spiritual leader, work ethic leader, character-wise he's our leader. He's tough to replace. We're going to have to grow up real quick, guys are going to have to step up and I think they will." Villanova will close out the regular season Saturday at Providence (2:30 p.m. on Fox and 95.7 Ben FM).