With 11:07 remaining in the Hoyas’ 84-58 win over Seton Hall on Wednesday night, Pirates senior guard Ty Shine stood at the three-point line, tying his shoe, as an entire sports arena exploded with applause. Could Shine’s looping motion possibly be this transfixing?
Moments earlier, Georgetown senior point guard Kevin Braswell had done the stuff of playground legend?and literally faked Shine out of one of his Nikes?on a crossover dribble just beyond the three point line. Play continued, and Shine barely reapplied the footwear before the next referee whistle. When the official timeout came, he took the opportunity to relace. And Georgetown fans took the opportunity to revel.
This was about more than simply a mid-January showdown with the Seton Hall Pirates. This was about proving two things: revenge and consistency.
Georgetown handed a nationally-ranked Seton Hall squad, anchored by current NBA rookies Eddie Griffin and Samuel Dalembert, two regular season losses during the 2001 season, but the Hoyas were ultimately dealt a 58-40 loss in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament last March.
Wednesday the Hoyas collided with a much-depleted Pirates squad, featuring two freshmen starters, hoping to send a message to critics who question their consistency following a major upset of No. 11 Boston College, 70-43, last Saturday.
In the Seton Hall game, Georgetown came out tepid, trading one-point advantages with the Pirates throughout the first five minutes. With 12:36 remaining in the first half, Braswell forced a turnover from Seton Hall’s sophomore forward, Marcus Toney-El, beginning a fast break he concluded by rolling a layup off the rim. Junior sixth man Courtland Freeman slammed the ball home with authority, and two minutes later, first-year forward Harvey Thomas followed suit, dunking to give the Hoyas’ a 18-14 advantage.
With 4:40 left in the first half, the Hoyas began to pull away for good after a tip-in by sophomore power forward Mike Sweetney to take a 10-point lead. Georgetown took a 36-27 lead into the half.
The story of the second half, and the game, however, was sophomore swingman Gerald Riley, who at one point, with 15:30 remaining, nailed two three-pointers in a row, part of a 6-11 effort from downtown for Georgetown on the night. Riley led five Hoyas in double figures with 16 points, following an impressive 13 points against Boston College, and 18 against UCLA in late December.
“Gerald’s game is growing,” commented Georgetown head coach Craig Esherick. “When I was recruiting him, I was worried about his defense, but he has become an excellent defensive player. Over the past few weeks, he’s been working on his shooting, and it’s showing. He’s shooting the ball extremely well.”
Riley was a major factor in the Hoyas’ defensive schemes as well, holding one of their main offensive threats, senior guard Darius Lane, to zero points in 19 minutes of action. The Pirates’ other threat, point guard Andre Barrett, added 13 in 30 minutes.
“I thought we shot the ball extremely well, but the story of this game was our defensive job on Lane and Barrett,” said Esherick. “We were very conscious of both of them and Riley did an excellent job denying the ball to Lane; with Barrett, we took away his drive.”
“When Andre and Darius play well, we play well,” said a somber Louis Orr, Seton Hall’s head coach. “They took them out of the offense.”
Braswell was often responsible for marking Barrett, in addition to his 12 points and five assists on the contest.
“Kevin has been showing his maturity,” said Esherick. “He’s the only senior on this squad, and he has been asked to shoulder a burden that we haven’t asked of many people. He’s done extremely well.”
Braswell, and team defense, were also major factors in the Hoyas’ romp over Big East favorite-Boston College on their home court last weekend. Only one Eagle reached double figures, and neither of BC’s vaunted backcourt players?Troy Bell and Ryan Sidney, who left the game early with an injury?scored more than eight points. Bell added four turnovers.
“I don’t think you can play two better defensive games than Georgetown has played in their last two,” said Orr, whose team lost to BC as well. “In this league, the premier teams win with defense, and Georgetown showed tonight they are a premier team.”
Sweetney recorded his Big East leading ninth double-double against the Eagles, netting 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. The Hoyas held BC to three of 18 shooting from three-point land, foreshadowing their performance against the Pirates, who shot a dismal one of 17 from beyond the arc.
“We got our assess whupped,” said Orr. “If you can’t get stops, and you can’t score, you’re gonna lose by 30, and we almost did. They just took it to us.”
And, faked them out of their shoes.
