NEW YORK, N.Y. – Georgetown got a pair of free throws from Dante Harris with 4.7 seconds left to upend No. 1 seed Villanova 72-71 in a BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinal played Thursday at Madison Square Garden. Villanova received a combined 46 points from forwards Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (26) and Jermaine Samuels (20) but it wasn't enough to hold off the Hoyas. Georgetown rallied from an 11-point second half deficit to advance to Friday night's semifinal. Harris scored 18 points for Georgetown. The Wildcats held a 70-65 lead with just less than 90 seconds left but the Hoyas outscored Nova 7-1 in the final seconds to secure the win. "Down the stretch it got to be a one possession game," said Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "They executed those last two possessions a little bit better than us. I thought their guards were great. We had a tough time controlling Harris. They're a good team and they're playing good basketball." "(Georgetown) did a good job of isolating people they wanted to on our team and making great individual plays. Harris isolated a couple of times and made great plays. They got a couple of offensive rebounds and got to the foul line." Indeed, the Hoyas were perfect at the line, converting all 23 of their attempts on the afternoon. After working with Villanova strength coach John Shackleton and Head Athletic Trainer Dan Erickson prior to the game, sophomore guard Justin Moore was able to participate in the rest of pregame warmups. Although he did not start, Moore entered the game after 2:53 of action. "It was a shock," stated Wright of Moore's availability. "We truly prepared not to have him. Our trainer told us that maybe he could play Saturday if we made it. He hadn't practiced at all. They just told us in warmups he felt good, and thought he could give it a shot. He did and did a great job." Moore finished with 10 points before fouling out. Spurred by six points from Samuels, the Wildcats grabbed an early 9-0 lead only to have the Hoyas bounce right back with eight straight points of their own. At the 15:33 mark, Nova's lead was 9-8. A Quddus Wahab post-up score drew a foul and extend the Hoyas run to 11-0 after five minutes of game action. Villanova was unable to find the range from deep, connecting on 1-of-11 from beyond the arc over the game's first nine minutes. Yet it's gritty work at the defensive end helped it retake the lead at 15-13 on an Eric Dixon put-back basket. With Samuels and Robinson-Earl fueling the offense, Villanova built a 35-30 advantage with just more than three minutes to play. But with Samuels, Moore and Caleb Daniels all on the bench with two fouls, Georgetown went on a 7-0 run to close the half and take a 37-35 lead at halftime. Over the first 20 minutes, Nova was 10-of-16 from inside the arc but just 3-of-19 from beyond it. The Hoyas were 6-of-16 from distance, which helped account for their advantage. Samuels led Villanova with 14 points in the period while Robinson-Earl added 10 points and five caroms. A 10-0 spurt early in the second half allowed the Wildcats to retake the lead and push it to 47-39. The Wildcats converted four of five field goal attempts in that stretch with four points from Robinson-Earl and three free throws from sophomore Chris Arcidiacono, making his first career start in the absence of injured BIG EAST Player of the Year Collin Gillespie. The Wildcats stretched the lead to 11 at one point but Georgetown made its way back, regain the lead at the 5:01 mark after a 3-pointer put the Hoyas up 63-62. Villanova struggled to gain the offensive flow it had earlier in the period Georgetown picked up two key 3-pointers and continued its perfect work at the line, converting its first 16 at the charity stripe. A clutch 3-pointer from Robinson-Earl gave the Wildcats (16-6 overall, 11-4 BIG EAST) a 70-65 cushion with 1:29 left but it would be Nova's final field goal of the day. Georgetown (11-12 overall, 7-9 BIG EAST) scored five straight points to tie it at 70 before a Robinson-Earl free throw gave the 'Cats the one point edge with 19 seconds left. After a timeout, Harris drove the ball into the key and the Wildcats were whistled for the foul. He sank both free throws with 4.7 seconds left. A final 3-point attempt by Caleb Daniels was off the mark. The loss ends a nine-game winning streak in the BIG EAST Tournament that began in the 2017 quarterfinals. The Wildcats won an unprecedented three straight BIG EAST Tournament crowns from 2017-19. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.