Isaiah Whitehead, the latest guard to whirl his way out of Coney Island to the Garden floor, listened to the din when his work was done Saturday night. He had led the vanquishing of Villanova, whistling passes through the lane and wreaking havoc at the rim. The scoreboard read Seton Hall, 69-67, and the Wildcats were back in their locker room while the Pirates stepped onto the black platform to collect the Big East championship trophy. The crowd chanted.  First, it was “M-V-P! M-V-P!” He was awarded that honor, and the faithful changed its demand. “One-More-Year! One-More-Year!” they said. Whitehead smiled; he collected his teammates on court.  “Yo!” he said. “We gotta cut the net down!”  NCAA BUBBLE TEAMS NEED TO ROOT FOR UCONN  The sophomore set his square jaw and took on the next task. Net cord cut, he issued a warning to whichever team awaited next week in the NCAA Tournament’s first round. They will enter the field as one of the hottest teams in the country.  “Whoever we play just really better watch out,” Whitehead said. “We really defend at a high level. When we get on the break, it’s hard to stop us.”  No participant in the title game moved at a faster clip than Whitehead. He managed 26 points, but also turned the ball over eight times. No matter. He controlled the ball and his body in crunch time when he wrapped it all up with a game-tying layup and free throw to take the lead with 18 seconds left.  The win gave Seton Hall its first Big East tourney championship since 1993. Whitehead noted that it was one accolade that former Coney Island wunderkinds like Stephon Marbury and Lance Stephenson never earned in their college careers at Georgia Tech and Cincinnati, respectively.  “I can brag about it to Lance later on,” Whitehead said.  Lincoln lost its PSAL title game to Jefferson on the same hardwood earlier in the day, but Whitehead put on the best singular performance of the day in front of a raucous crowd of 19,812. Seton Hall needed every bit of his effort to stave off Villanova after surrendering a 14-point lead in the second half. The Pirates had hit 57% of their shots in the first half and hit 40% in the second.  “We blitzed, we trapped Whitehead a bit,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “They were outstanding the first half. We didn’t have any answer for anything they did.”  FOLLOW THE DAILY NEWS SPORTS ON FACEBOOK. "LIKE" US HERE.  Villanova had used a 12-2 run to get back in the game in the second half, and guard Kris Jenkins (23 points) tied the contest at 50-50 on a banked three-pointer from the left wing. He hit another to put Villanova up three with less than a minute left. Jenkins hit four of his five shots from beyond the arc.  The Wildcats (29-5) are expected to be under consideration for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The selection committee was deliberating at the Marriott Marquis while the game was played nine blocks south.  Seton Hall (25-8) will reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time under coach Kevin Willard. His brigade of New Yorkers — Whitehead, Khadeen Carrington and Desi Rodriguez — combined for 43 points.  Willard knew what he had when he signed Whitehead. They walked down the bowels of the Garden together, net cords cut and carrying confidence in bulk to the next gym they get assigned.  “It really doesn’t matter who we play,” Whitehead said. “We’re up for the challenge.”
Isaiah Whitehead, a son of Coney Island, whirled through Villanova’s defense Saturday night, whipping a left-handed pass across the lane.