With a pivotal road stretch on the horizon, the Georgetown men’s basketball team knew they had to protect their home court well in a pair of key conference games. Their goal was met with mixed success, as they let a close game against Villanova slip away in the second half, falling 75-60, but rebounded with their second victory over Miami in a week at 80-64. However, the long week ended on another down note for the Hoyas as they fell to Virginia Tech, 80-65.
The Hoyas knew they were in for a dogfight against Villanova as both teams entered the game with 3-4 conference records. The Wildcats established a powerful inside game behind sophomore forward Curtis Sumpter, who rattled the Hoyas shaky inside defense for 24 points in the game. First-year Jason Fraser added a number of rim-rattling dunks off back cuts from picks set by guards Randy Foye and Allan Ray. The Hoyas seemed confused amidst the Wildcats’ quick picks and constant ball movement, leading to a number of wide-open lay ups.
“You can’t beat a team as good as Villanova,” Coach Craig Esherick said. “If you don’t rebound and don’t play defense … We needed to win this game, this was a home-game, but there’s plenty of basketball to be played.”
Despite their defensive lapses, Georgetown was able to stay in the game using a strong first-half performance from sophomore Ashanti Cook, who collected 10 of his 12 points in the first 20 minutes. The team’s trapping defense also gave Villanova some problems, but the Hoyas failed to convert a number of turnovers into points with missed shots on the fast break. After back-and-forth lead changes, Cook hit an acrobatic shot at the buzzer to pull Georgetown within 32-31 at halftime.
Any momentum gained from Cook’s heroics evaporated early in the second half, when Villanova used Sumpter and senior reserve Derrick Snowden to pull away from the Hoyas. Georgetown had no answer for Sumpter, and while senior co-captain Courtland Freeman was able to stay out of foul trouble, Sumpter overwhelmed him inside. Three consecutive threes by Snowden put the Wildcats up by 12 with 10:47 to play in the game, and Georgetown was unable to make a serious run thereafter.
With the loss to Villanova only two days prior, Georgetown had to find a way to put the game out of their mind and move on to a more important game against Miami. Hoping for a good first half, the team found themselves trailing 33-25 because of another poor shooting performance, this time 38.7 percent. The Hoyas trap again enabled them to stay in the game, creating 18 points off of turnovers in the half. The team also held a surprising advantage in points in the post, with 24 to Miami’s 12.
Entering the second half, Georgetown knew they would have to shoot the ball better, and the man who torched Miami in Florida exactly a week before stepped up to the task. Senior guard Gerald Riley, coming off a disappointing shooting night against Villanova, erupted for a career high of 37 points, 29 of which came in the second half. Amidst near constant trash talking, the by-product of two games against each other in a week, Riley torched the ‘Canes defense with open threes and cuts to the basket. He finished a blistering 66.6 percent from the field, connected on 50 percent of his three-point attempts and hit all ten of his free throws in the game. “I was able to get to the free-throw line,” Riley said. “That helped get me going, and then I hit a couple of threes and that really got me up.”
Sophomore Brandon Bowman played his third consecutive game without taking a seat on the bench and chipped in with a consistent 19 points and nine rebounds to help the Hoyas take control. Junior D.J. Owens and Freeman added 13 and 10 points respectively. When not in the game because of foul trouble, the duo exhorted the team from the bench. “We weren’t going to lose that game,” Freeman said. “We have to protect our home court,” Riley added. “We just got together in the second half and said, ‘Let’s do this.’”
Still, the team seemed to get its biggest lift from first-year point guard Matt Causey, whose capri-length shorts and ferocious cuts to the basket helped open up a number of open shots for his teammates. Causey set up one of the game’s biggest shots, a Gerald Riley three at 11:14 that put the team up 50-42. Redshirt first-year and fan-favorite Amadou Kilkenny-Diaw also filled in admirably for Freeman, playing solid defense while logging nine minutes of game-action.
“Of all the games we’ve played this year, this was as much a team effort as any,” Esherick said. “Obviously I have to start with Gerald Riley, but Matt Causey played a great game, his best game of the year … Amadou gave us some great minutes when Courtland got his fourth foul … Darrel hit a big three. We’ve got to remember this half, because that’s as good as we’ve played.”
Unfortunately, Georgetown was unable to build on the Miami win, falling at Virginia Tech. The Hokies overcame another strong performance by Riley, who had 24 points. Tech forward Coleman collins was too much for Georgetown inside, dropping twenty points and flustering the Hoyas throughout the game. The loss dampened Georgetown’s building postseason hopes, but the team will try to bounce back against Temple in Philadelphia on Saturday. Tip off at the Liacouras Center is scheduled for 2 p.m.
