Stumbling to the ground, Porter hung his head, bled from his mouth — having bit his tongue — and had to be helped from the floor while Sutton (Largo High) was called for a technical foul after officials reviewed the play.

After four minutes on the bench, Porter came back and contributed a crucial 15 points and six rebounds, showing just how much the incident had fired up him and his teammates. The Hoyas held the struggling Wildcats (11-17, 4-12 Big East) to 28 percent shooting from the field.

“Yeah, I was fired up,” Porter said. “So were my teammates. I think they kind of read my mind and started picking up guys.”

The victory also gave the Hoyas (21-6, 11-5) some clarity in their battle for postseason positioning, moving them into sole possession of fourth place in the Big East with two games to play.

What was less clear was Georgetown coach John Thompson III’s motivation for inserting Porter over Markel Starks, whose only other missed start this season came because of illness.

“I just wanted to start Otto and not play Starks,” Thompson said, admitting the sophomore guard was healthy. Asked whether Starks would play Monday vs. Notre Dame, the answer was, “We’ll see.”

Following an 18-point loss at Seton Hall, Thompson was more pleased with Georgetown’s all-around performance as five different Georgetown players grabbed six rebounds.

Henry Sims (12 points) got two of his six and scored for a 43-33 lead with 13:01 remaining in the second half, part of a possession in which the Hoyas grabbed four offensive boards. Villanova missed 15 of its final 17 shots in front of 19,277, Georgetown’s biggest home crowd of the year.

Georgetown took a 25-8 lead early on a 15-4 run that included Hollis Thompson (10 points, four assists) driving and dishing to Jason Clark (15 points), who sliced to the basket for a layup.

“It was a team effort today,” Thompson III said. “If you look at the scoring and the rebounding, I thought everyone came to play. I thought the guys did a good job of protecting each other and having each other’s back an supporting each other at the defensive end.”

Villanova leading-scorer Maalik Wayns was held to three points, and starter JayVaughn Pinkston was limited after stepping on a basketball during pregame warmups. Still, the Wildcats’ Dominic Cheek (19 points) hit a pair of 3-pointers, Wayns added one of his own and Markus Kennedy banked in a jumper from the top of the arc during a 15-2 run that cut the Hoyas’ lead to 27-23.

Porter answered with a 3-pointer that bounced high off the front rim and blocked Ty Johnson’s potential halftime buzzer beater from behind.

“That was a big play because it was the end of the shot clock that we had a good defensive possession,” Wildcats coach Jay Wright said. “We let it go and we just gave him a little too much space there, and that was, it was a big shot.”

[email protected]