Villanova 74, Providence 68

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Daniel Ochefu was a bully in the low post, piling up 19 points and nine rebounds to help No. 6 Villanova pick up its fifth straight win and stave off feisty Providence for a 74-68 win Wednesday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

The junior forward’s big night on both ends gave the Wildcats (22-2, 9-2 Big East) their third road win in conference play.

Providence (17-8, 7-5) lost its second game in a row. The Friars fell for the third time in four games.

Junior guard Ryan Arcidiacono scored a team-high 20 points and senior guard Darrun Hilliard II had 16 for the Wildcats, who overcame a poor first half to shoot 50 percent on the night (20-for-40).

Providence senior forward LaDontae Henton scored 19 of his game-high 23 points in the second half. Friars junior forward Tyler Harris and sophomore guard Kris Dunn each finished with 17 points.

Providence was held to 43.1 percent shooting (22-for-51).

After leading by four midway through the first half, Providence spotted the visitors a three-point lead at the break. Villanova broke the game open with an 11-0 run early in the second, stretching its lead to 14 before the Friars answered with an 8-0 run to trim their deficit to six.

The Wildcats stayed the course and didn’t let the lead fall below five before the final buzzer.

Neither squad was able to put much offense together early, with both the Wildcats and Friars missing four of their first six shots from the field.

Providence took its first lead at 7-6 on a Chukwu putback dunk, and the Friars stretched their early lead to 19-15 midway through the first half.

Ochefu and Arcidiacono combined to score the final 12 points of the half for Villanova, which built a late 27-21 lead before settling for a 29-26 advantage going into halftime.

Ochefu led all scorers with 10 first-half points. Hilliard scored nine and Arcidiacono chipped in eight points for Villanova, which was limited to 40.9 percent shooting from the field (9 of 22).

Dunn scored eight points in the half for Providence, which shot 52.2 percent from the field (12 of 23).

NOTES: Villanova owns a 55-37 advantage in the all-time series against Providence, but the Friars are 24-18 at home. … Providence coach Ed Cooley returned to the sideline after he was hospitalized during Saturday’s game at Xavier. He received a short video tribute and an ovation from the Friars’ faithful before tipoff. … Friars senior F LaDontae Henton was the Big East’s leading scorer and had the 11th highest average in Division I at the start of play, averaging 20.4 points. He scored a career-high 38 against Notre Dame on Nov. 23. … Before Wednesday, Villanova held Big East opponents to a league-best 62 points per game on 39.9 percent shooting from the field in 10 conference games. … The Wildcats visit No. 18 Butler on Saturday. The Friars host Seton Hall on Saturday.