The Georgetown men’s basketball team outlasted Seton Hall at Capital One Arena Saturday evening, winning 77-71 in double overtime. It was a poor offensive showing from both teams, as they combined to hit just 35.9 percent of their field goals and a paltry 18 percent from behind the arc. Junior guard Myles Powell, the Big East’s second-leading scorer, had 35 points for the visitors on 14-of-27 from the field. For Georgetown, senior center Jessie Govan recorded 21 points and 12 rebounds, while freshman forward Josh LeBlanc went for 14 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. With the hard-fought win, the Hoyas move back into a tie for third place in the conference with just two games left on the schedule.
“Tonight was the proudest I’ve ever been of my team,” Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing said. “As a coach, you want the team to take on your personality, well tonight they took on my personality. We fought for everything.”
The game was tight from the opening tip. Powell hit two straight threes to open the scoring for the Pirates, but the Hoyas soon went on top after Govan found LeBlanc inside for a dunk. A minute later, LeBlanc slammed it home again, this time after a perfectly run fast break by freshman guard James Akinjo.
“He did for us what he always does,” Ewing said of LeBlanc’s effort. “He had 14 points, 17 rebounds. That’s a hell of a game.”
Both teams continued to misfire and the game stayed close, with neither team leading by more than four until late in the half. A Powell layup capped a 9-0 Seton Hall run and put the Pirates up six with five minutes remaining. They would extend the margin to eight with one minute left after buckets from Powell and sophomore guard/forward Myles Cale, but graduate student forward Trey Mourning close the half with four straight points to cut it to 28-24, Seton Hall, at the break. It was Georgetown’s lowest halftime point total of the season, as the Hoyas shot just 10-of-33 from the field in the first. Govan struggled in particular with no points on 0-of-7 from the field, but he would recover with a strong showing the rest of the way.
“To me that was Jessie’s best game of his career,” Ewing said. “His shots weren’t falling. They were doing a lot of different things. There’s been games in the past where he let that affect him and he stopped playing and tonight he didn’t. He just kept persevering. If it wasn’t for his points, his rebounds, and timely blocks, we wouldn’t have won.”
Govan made the first shot of the second half after LeBlanc worked the post and found him in the paint for a layup. An and-one from Powell two minutes later put the Pirates back up five, but freshman guard Mac McClung immediately responded with an acrobatic, up-and-under layup to keep it close. Six minutes into the second half, the Hoyas were finally able to retake the lead on a pair of McClung free throws, but the game remained close. Two minutes later, junior guard Jagan Mosely dribbled the length of the floor and converted an and-one to put Georgetown up three. A layup from senior guard Greg Malinowski soon extended the margin to five.
“That environment’s a fun place to play in,” Malinowski said of his last game at Capital One Arena. “When you have guys up in the third section, everybody screaming, chanting. It makes it a lot easier to win. Having the crowd behind us. It’s a pretty special place.”
A layup from sophomore forward Sandro Mamukelashvili and another three from Powell tied it up at 44 midway through the second half. It remained a back-and-forth affair down the stretch of regulation. With a minute to go, LeBlanc followed up a missed layup with a putback dunk to give Georgetown a 59-57 lead late. But, Seton Hall tied it up on their final possession with a short jumper from senior forward Michael Nzei, and the game went to overtime.
An and-one from Govan midway through the first overtime put the Hoyas on top by four, but Powell immediately responded with his fourth 3-pointer of the game. In the dying seconds, Govan was fouled, but went just 1-of-2 at the line to make it 66-64 in favor of Georgetown. The Pirates pushed the ball and freshman guard/forward Jared Rhoden was able to get a layup to go over Govan to force a second extra period.
In the second overtime, Govan took over.
“I just wanted to put the game away for my team,” he said. “I had a chance at the end of regulation to win it. Missed that shot. I had a shot to extend it to three at the end of the first overtime. Missed one free throw. In the second overtime, I said ‘Alright, this is where great players make plays.’ I felt like I did that.”
Govan scored all 11 Hoya points in the second OT. Seton Hall kept it close at the outset, with a layup from Powell and a short jumper by Mamukelashvili, but Govan began to dominate in the paint. He made a pair of free throws to put the Hoyas up two, then followed a missed Akinjo 3-pointer with a putback layup to increase the lead to five. Govan made his free throws and the Hoyas locked in defensively to seal the win.
“It’s funny, my first game here as a freshman was a double overtime loss to Radford,” Govan said. “I was glad that I’m able to get a double overtime win in probably the biggest game of the season against a good Seton Hall team.”
Next up for the Hoyas is a midwest road trip to close the regular season. They take on DePaul (13-13, 5-10 Big East) on Wednesday and conference-leading No. 10 Marquette (23-5, 12-3 Big East) next Saturday. The DePaul game will tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET in Chicago and will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 with live stats available at guhoyas.com. For continued coverage of Georgetown sports, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
