“The season’s not over,” said Georgetown Head Coach Craig Esherick after the Hoyas’ (10-6 overall, 2-4 Big East) 93-82 overtime loss to Seton Hall (8-9 overall, 3-4 Big East) last night at the MCI Center.
Unfortunately, with torturous, heartbreaking losses as the norm rather than the exception, it is becoming much harder to believe him.
Last night, like its maddening 65-64 loss at No. 2 Pittsburgh on Saturday-and like just about every loss this season-Georgetown played exceptionally well for parts of the game, but at the same time looked frighteningly lost for long stretches, especially when it counted.
After an even first six minutes last night, the Hoyas entered one of their down periods. Spurred by hot shooting and excellent ball movement, Seton Hall was able to show off its athleticism, outscoring Georgetown 15-4 for the next five minutes. After Georgetown went on a mini-run to cut the lead to six, the Hoyas committed an astounding five fouls in the next two and a half minutes, including three by first-year forward Brandon Bowman, and the Pirates pushed their lead to 12, 35-23 with 4:48 left in the half.
Then Georgetown turned it on. Spurred by junior forward Mike Sweetney taking two hard fouls from Pirates’ first-year forward Eric Davis, the Hoyas went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 37-34 with 28.2 seconds left in the half. But then Seton Hall junior point guard Andre Barrett did what he was able to do in both Pirates’ victories over Georgetown this year: take over in the clutch. The guard calmly walked the ball up the floor, dribbled around the perimeter until he drew three Hoyas defenders and then shot a bullet pass to junior forward Damion Fray who dunked it home to end the half with the Pirates up 39-34.
“It was a just a great team effort tonight,” said Seton Hall Head Coach Louis Orr.
The second half started with neither team distinguishing itself, and the Pirates held a seven point lead with 17 minutes left until Hoyas sophomore guard Tony Bethel exploded. Bethel, who is quickly becoming a reliable second-option for the Hoyas, nailed a three, flew down the baseline to glide in a finger-roll and beautifully fed junior swingman Gerald Riley who laid it in to tie the game at 49.
What followed was 10 more ties and nine lead changes for the rest of the game. With 4:47 left, disaster struck for the Hoyas. One minute after receiving an offensive foul call, Sweetney fouled out on a questionable touch foul off a Barrett fast break. Georgetown’s All-America Candidate had 20 points and 12 rebounds.
“I thought with Mike fouling out, we still had a chance to win,” said Esherick.
The Hoyas’ other big man, senior center Wesley Wilson, who was invisible in the Hoyas’ previous loss to Seton Hall, picked up the slack, scoring Georgetown’s next five points and pushing the Hoyas ahead 69-65 with 1:48 remaining. Then Pirates sophomore forward John Allen took it upon himself to end Wilson’s night. Allen hit a jumper over an out-of-position Wilson and then nailed a leaner with Wilson hanging on him, the center’s fifth foul. Allen hit the foul shot, the Pirates took a 70-69 lead and both of Georgetown’s big men were gone.
The Hoyas were able to hold on, and with 50.6 seconds left the score was tied at 72. A Bethel offensive foul ended the Hoyas’ possession. Calmly again, Barrett dribbled up court, but this time Georgetown was able to contain him. A loose ball led to a tie-up and the Pirates had possession with 7.2 seconds left but only two ticks left on the shot clock, and the Hoyas called a timeout. Inexplicably, after the time out, no Georgetown player saw Pirates’ sophomore forward Andre Sweet, who alley-ooped the inbound to give the Pirates a two point lead. But Riley took a quick pass down the court and nailed a runner in the paint to send it to overtime 74-74.
In the overtime, however, Barrett’s poise and Allen talent shone. After Riley hit a three-point play, Allen nailed a jumper. Following a Hoyas’ free throw, Allen then hit a fade-away to tie it at 78. With 2:13 remaining, Barrett hit an NBA-range three and the Pirates led for good. On the next Georgetown possession, Barrett stole an errant pass from sophomore guard Drew Hall and then, like his play to end the first half, drew three Hoyas at him and whipped it to a wide-open Sweet who laid it in to seal the game. The Pirates hit 10 of 10 free throws in overtime and won 93-82.
“We showed a lot of poise tonight,” said Sweet. “We got what we wanted.”
The loss for the Hoyas means a great deal. The Hoyas have lost two games against Seton Hall in one season for the first time since 1992-93. Additionally, Georgetown fell to two games under .500 in the Big East with two away games against top-25 teams next week, Notre Dame and Syracuse. Most importantly, the wind seems to be out of the sails of a team that has lost 10 games by five points or less or in overtime in the past two seasons.
“We gotta figure out who we have on our team that wants to win and those people that want to win are going to play and those people that want to make excuses and don’t want to win are not going to play,” said Esherick.
“All five people have to play their game,” said Bethel. “We can’t have just four guys playing and one lapsing.”
“If we’re not ready [for the two games next week], then I dunno,” said Hall.
“We just gotta dig deep from here on out,” said Sweetney.
With no easy games left on the schedule, it will take a tremendous effort from the Hoyas to make it to the NCAAs. The Hoyas have six games left on the road, where they are winless so far this season. At home, they play Pac-10 foe UCLA as well as Big East teams, Pittsburgh, Providence, Notre Dame and Syracuse, all of which have equal or better conference records than the Hoyas.
Esherick, Sweetney, Bethel and Hall all said that they still believe in this team. But the many frustrating defeats have made it tough to agree.
