The men’s basketball team ended a losing streak, secured a 20-win season, stabilized its confidence and tried out some new (well, kind of) strategies and tactics on its way to a 76-73 road victory over Rutgers Saturday afternoon.
First-year power forward Mike Sweetney and junior point guard Kevin Braswell kept up their roles as “the father” and “the son” with a combined 37 points on 11-of-21 shooting from the field and a perfect 15 of 15 from the free-throw line. The key “X” factor in the win was senior reserve guard Anthony Perry.
Perry busted out of a major shooting slump, which peaked with a one-for-10 shooting performance against Villanova on Feb. 12, and gave the Hoyas a full trinity on offense with 15 points.
One of the reasons Perry had the opportunity to break his slump was an opening-minute injury to sophomore shooting guard Demetrius Hunter’s achilles tendon. Perry didn’t immediately regain his touch, but felt his way into the game’s rhythm with a short putback and transition three pointer during the first half.
Perry then opened the second half with an extremely odd play for Georgetown: Braswell dribbled up court and moved to his right. Perry, utilizing some good screens down low, ran to the right side of the court along the baseline and jumped outside the three-point line at a perfect bank angle, caught a pass from Braswell and immediately fired away.
The play is pretty simple, but Georgetown almost always uses this sort of motion and screening to position guards for good entry angles to post players such as Sweetney and to cause confusion down low. A set play for a three pointer on the first play of the half isn’t a major innovation, but it was out of the ordinary.
Perry capitalized on the play and banked the shot in off the glass. From there, Georgetown went on to score 45 points in the second half, a dramatic improvement on the 31 it scored in the first half. Perry finished the game 6 of 12 from the field and 3 of 7 from three-point range.
In the first half, Hunter’s injury, generally poor play and foul trouble for Braswell forced Head Coach Craig Esherick to go play his reserve guards more than usual. First-year guard Ramell Ross and sophomore guard Trenton Hillier finished the game with a combined 19 minutes, a pair of assists, two turnovers and a missed free throw.
In the second half, Esherick all but abandoned the trademark Georgetown depth. First-year small forward Gerald Riley played only six minutes in the entire game. The team’s reserve centers, senior Lee Scruggs and sophomore Wesley Wilson played a combined 18 total minutes.
Esherick instead relied on a core of three experienced seniors (Perry, swingman Nat Burton and center Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje), the team’s two stars (Braswell and Sweetney) and versatile sophomore forward Victor Samnick.
Boumtje-Boumtje wasn’t stellar and played only 23 minutes, but he helped Sweetney get the Scarlet Knight big men in foul trouble?though he got himself in foul trouble, too.
Samnick provided his usual energy off the bench and scored eight points, even if he did fire one or two ill-advised shots during the second half.
Burton, though not as flashy or noticable as Braswell, Sweetney and Perry, was crucial. He matched up with Rutger’s best one-on-one offensive player, Jeff Greer, grabbing two steals and tying for the team lead in rebounds.
Burton and Perry’s ability to play their roles during games in which the team’s younger players can’t get the job done will be crucial if the Hoyas plan on returning to their early season form.
