Xavier 65, No. 23 Georgetown 63: Matt Stainbrook scored 20 points and the sixth-seeded Musketeers withstood a furious comeback to earn a spot in the Big East Conference tournament title game at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Remy Abell added 10 points and freshman Trevon Bluiett chipped in nine for sixth-seeded Xavier, which plays No. 1 seed Villanova for the championship Saturday. Jalen Reynolds and J.P. Macura scored eight apiece for the Musketeers (21-12), who had a 21-point second-half lead cut to one before beating the Hoyas for the third time this season.

Jabril Trawick scored 19 points and freshman Isaac Copeland netted 15 for second-seeded Georgetown (21-10), which lost to an opponent three times in a season for the first time since 2004-05 (Connecticut). D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera finished with 11 points and Josh Smith supplied 10.

Xavier closed the opening half on a 24-7 run and got 14 points from Stainbrook for a 35-26 edge at the break before quickly pushing the lead to 21 points with a 14-2 run to start the second half. The momentum turned when Reynolds was slapped with a technical for pushing Trawick from behind and the Hoyas stormed back as Copeland scored nine points in a 15-1 spurt to cut the deficit to 54-48 with 4:08 to play.

Bluiett halted a field goal drought of nearly 10 minutes with a 3-pointer for a nine-point lead with 3 1/2 minutes left, but Trawick knocked down four free throws before Paul White drilled a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 59-57 with 23 seconds to play. Smith-Rivera's layup sliced it to one point with 14.6 seconds to go but Dee Davis and Myles Davis each made a pair of free throws in the final 10 seconds.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Macura, who sparked Xavier's first-half run by hitting a pair of 3-pointers and scoring eight points in a span of less than three points before rolling his ankle with 6:06 left in the half, watched the second half from the bench in a walking boot. ... Hoyas leading scorer Smith-Rivera, who pumped in 25 points in Friday's win over Creighton, had two points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half and didn't hit his second field goal until midway through the second half. ... The Musketeers finished 19-of-31 from the free-throw line, including 14-of-24 in the second half.