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Championship quest is ‘Ova: Villanova beats Michigan, wins NCAA basketball title

Posted at 11:30 PM, Apr 02, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-02 23:46:43-04

Donte DiVincenzo of Villanova during the 2018 NCAA National Championship game. (Photo by Brett Wilhelm – Pool/Getty Images)

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – It was as wild of an NCAA basketball tournament as we’ve seen. The 2018 ‘Big Dance’ featured an 11-seed (Loyola-Chicago) reaching the Final Four and a 16-seed (Maryland-Baltimore County) beating a 1-seed. But, in the end: number one was number one.

Villanova, the top-seed in the East region and a team that spent several weeks atop the national polls this season, defeats Michigan 79-62 Monday to win the NCAA championship. It’s the second national title in three years for the Wildcats.

Donte DiVincenzo, a bench player for Villanova, led the way for the Wildcats with a career-high 31 points. That mark sets a new title game record for most points by a player who was not a part of the starting lineup.

With the victory, Villanova becomes just the fourth program since 1975 to win two NCAA titles in three seasons (Duke, Kentucky, Florida).