NEW YORK — Alex Karaban scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half and hit two clutch 3-pointers in the final six-plus minutes as third-seeded UConn pulled away for a 73-56 victory over sixth-seeded Villanova on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.The Huskies (23-9) won their fifth straight and will face second-seeded Creighton in the late semifinal Friday. Creighton survived a double-overtime finish to subdue DePaul 85-81.Liam McNeeley added 12 points for two-time defending champion UConn, which ended on a 22-5 run over the final 7:31. Samson Johnson and Solo Ball contributed 11 points apiece as the Huskies shot 65 percent in the second half and 57.8 percent overall.Villanova’s Wooga Poplar tied a career high with 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting, but missed his final three shots. The Wildcats (19-14) shot just 20.8 percent (5-of-24) in the second half and 31.9 percent overall.Jordan Longino added 10 points but Eric Dixon, who began the night scoring 23.5 points per game, shot just 2-of-15 and was held to eight points. The Wildcats went 1-for-10 in the final 7:58.Karaban made 5-of-9 shots and hit four 3-pointers after making 12 of 26 shots from deep in the final five regular-season games.Villanova ripped off 10 straight points and took a 17-8 lead on a trey by Poplar with about 11 1/2 minutes left.
