Georgetown men’s basketball (14-9, 5-7 BIG EAST) lost a tight contest against the Xavier Musketeers (14-9, 6-6 BIG EAST) 74-69 at the Cintas Center on Feb. 4. Despite another excellent performance from the duo of freshman forward Thomas Sorber and graduate guard Micah Peavy, the Hoyas found themselves on the losing side of a tight game.
In an important battle for position in the BIG EAST standings, both Georgetown and Xavier came into this one with a lot to play for, and it showed.
The first half could really be divided into two, with the first part being a dominant performance from freshman forward Thomas Sorber in the front court. The freshman outscored Xavier by himself for stretches as the Hoyas built a 11-7 and later 24-16 lead through thirteen minutes of play. Sorber started out a white-hot 5-of-6 from the field with 11 points during this stretch, scoring at the rim all the way out to 18-feet at will.
With their backs up against the wall, and NCAA Tournament hopes in dire need of a win, the Musketeers battled back, led by junior guard Ryan Conwell, graduate forward Zach Freemantle, and sophomore forward Dailyn Swain. Over the last 7:06 of the first half, Xavier mounted a massive 14-2 run, sprung by Freemantle and Conwell triples, and managed to take a 30-26 lead into half.
After starting out the first half on fire, Sorber missed his only attempt from the field and both of his free-throw attempts in that final stretch, but still led the game in points at the half with 11, while Swain led the Musketeers with 8. Graduate guard Micah Peavy also hit double figures for the Hoyas with 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in the first half.
Coming into the second half, the message from Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley was clear: play through Sorber. On the Hoyas’ first possession, Peavy dumped one off to Sorber in the post for an easy dunk. Even with that, Georgetown struggled to stem the Musketeers’ momentum as the 14-2 run extended to 23-6 and Xavier took an early nine-point lead, 39-30. Just when it looked like the game was starting to get away from the Hoyas, though, they responded.
Punctuated by a Peavy dunk, Georgetown went on a 7-0 run to bring the deficit back to two before a Freemantle bucket brought the score to 41-37 with just under twelve minutes to play.
From there, the teams again reminded spectators just why they are tied in the conference standings, battling back and forth down the stretch. Led in the second half by graduate guard Marcus Foster and Swain, the Musketeers were able to counter every punch from Peavy and Sorber, with the Xavier duo at 32 points to Peavy and Sorber’s 37 with just four minutes left to play. When it came down to putting the game out of reach though, it was graduate guard Dante Maddox Jr. who came up with two clutch threes to build the Xavier advantage back to nine as time began to dwindle. As fantastic as Sorber and Peavy had played, they simply couldn’t quite swing the game back in the Hoyas’ favor.
As the final buzzer sounded, the Hoyas lost 74-69. Peavy led the game with 27 points as well as 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Sorber had 17 as well for the Hoyas. For the Musketeers it was Swain with 18, Freemantle and Foster with 17, and Conwell with 11.
At the end of the day, the Musketeers’ 23-6 run proved to be just a little too much for the Hoyas, just like Georgetown’s 19-6 run was too much for Xavier to overcome in the teams’ first meeting almost exactly a month ago.
Next, the Hoyas return home to take on a reeling, last place, Seton Hall Pirates (6-16, 1-10 BIG EAST) on Feb 8. at 12:00 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast on FS1. For continued coverage and updates on Georgetown sports, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
