After leaving the West Virginia Coliseum with a win, something only three teams had done in the previous two and a half years, all eyes were on Patrick Ewing Jr. In the same way as his famous father made his mark on the Hilltop, Little Pat came up big when the Blue and Gray needed it most, swatting away sophomore forward Da’Sean Butler’s baseline lay-up as time expired. Providing a spark as the Hoyas’ first man off the bench, Ewing Jr. registered a workmanlike 27 minutes of action in helping Georgetown secure a 58-57 win and a two-game lead in the Big East. He tallied five points, six rebounds and four assists, leading the Hoyas for the night. But no stat was bigger than his lone block—a block that was heavily debated as goaltending.
“From my vantage point at the end of the bench, I feel that the effort Patrick made was tremendous,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “To put himself in position to get that block was unbelievable.”
Ewing’s huge defensive play came on the heels of 20 minutes of stout defense against archrival Syracuse. In Georgetown’s 64-62 win over the Orange, Ewing scored only two points, but his effort in shutting down Syracuse’s offense proved decisive in the narrow win.
“I think a key part was during the latter part of regulation and in overtime, Jeremiah [Rivers] and Patrick’s defense was unbelievable,” Thompson said. “The effort and the work were terrific. Spark would be an understatement.”
