New York — The energy and electricity from an intense Big East tournament semifinal game had barely faded late Friday night when Villanova coach Jay Wright predicted a bright postseason future for UConn.

Wright praised UConn, a team that despite a valiant effort fell short in its quest to reach the title game.

Second-seeded Villanova was the better team when it counted, earning the right to play fourth-seeded Creighton in the championship game on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

"They're an outstanding team, extremely well-coached," Wright said of UConn. "They can beat anybody in the country. They're going to make a run in the NCAA tournament."

Wright's kind words were little consolation to coach Dan Hurley and his third-seeded Huskies, who dropped a 63-60 decision and lost a tight game in the semifinals for the second straight season.

The pain will linger until Selection Sunday when UConn is expected to receive an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament. Bracketologists predict the Huskies could be a No. 5 seed.

"This truly sucks," Hurley said. "You hurt for this group. It's a special group. ... It's tough when you're a player or coach at a place like UConn and you come up short and don't cut down nets. The reality is, this group, back to back years, got to the semifinals of the conference tournament and we came up short. Now we've got to shift our mind and get ready next week to try to make a run in the best tournament in sports."

Playing with an effort like UConn (23-9) did on Friday simply isn't enough to beat battle-tested Villanova (25-7) without championship level execution. The Huskies made too many mistakes to pull off the mild upset.

"We were playing to get to the championship game, so we had no options but to leave everything out there," veteran Tyrese Martin said. "I feel like we did that and we just came up short."

After falling behind by seven with about five minutes left, the Huskies missed far too many chances around the basket and couldn't come up with timely stops on the defensive end to recover.

Still, they were right there at the end.

Trailing 60-54, UConn attempted a comeback. Andre Jackson's 3-pointer cut the gap to 62-60 with 8.4 seconds left. The Huskies called timeout.

But Collin Gillespie closed out the win by making one of two free throws.

UConn shot under 40 percent (38 percent, to be exact) for the second straight tournament game but overcame their offensive deficiencies in a quarterfinal win over Seton Hall Thursday. That wasn't the case against the Wildcats.

"We had a bunch of opportunities in and around the basket," Hurley said. "In the end, Villanova beats you because they make so few mistakes. We made too many (mistakes). ... Villanova is outstanding. They're very, very hard to beat."

Martin led the way with 19 points while Adama Sanogo added 15 points and 13 rebounds and R.J. Cole had 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Huskies, who dropped to 10-5 in their program history in Big East semifinal appearances.

"We're not going to let it break us," Martin said of the loss. "We're going to go back and learn from it, see what we can get better at, knowing that there's teams like tonight we'll have to play in March. We'll have to win those games to go deep."

The Wildcats, who've won nine of their last 10 games, won despite Big East player of the year Gillespie scoring just five, but with a season-high 10 assists. Jermaine Samuels had a game-high 21 points.

The sold-out crowd was into the game from the start. Each team's fan base took turns roaring their approval.

Neither team could seize control of the game in the first half. Villanova carried a 33-32 edge into the break. The Wildcats made eight 3-pointers and finished with 10 overall.

Martin came out firing out of the locker room firing away, sinking two straight 3-pointers for a 38-37 lead.

The Huskies had chances to extend the lead but Sanogo struggled to convert inside. He finished 6 for 15 from the field.

"I think I made a lot of mistakes," Sanogo said.

Meanwhile, Brandon Slater (15 points) scored five straight points to hand Villanova a 42-38 lead left. The Wildcats never trailed after that.

The Huskies lost control of the game, which featured seven ties and 15 lead changes, about midway through the second half.

Villanova gradually built its biggest lead, 52-44. Big man Eric Dixon's 3-pointer — his first basket of the game — capped an 8-2 run, forcing UConn to call a timeout with 10:15 remaining.

With Martin, Cole and Sanogo UConn's only reliable offensive options, the Huskies didn't have enough firepower to overcome the deficit.

The Huskies lost for only the fifth time this season when out-rebounding an opponent, holding a 40-30 edge.

By next week, freshman Jordan Hawkins, who sat out his third straight game with a concussion, could be ready to play. The Huskies need another scorer off the bench.

"We're hopeful Jordan will be able to get back in the fold hopefully this week," Hurley said. "We think his symptoms have cleared up."

g.keefe@theday.com