RUN THE GYM: Georgetown Wallops Wagner at McDonough, 66-41

Hoyas hold ‘Hawks scoreless for first 8 second-half minutes

It’s Feast Week in college basketball and your Georgetown Hoyas tipped off against the Wagner Seahawks in McDonough Arena Tuesday night. Winning 66-41, Georgetown held Wagner to 41 points and moved to 5-1 on the season. The 25-point victory came behind a stout defensive effort that forced 18 turnovers and held Wagner scoreless for over 10 minutes—including an 8-minute 18-0 run to start the second half.

The Seahawks entered the game 3-3 with 2 of their losses coming to familiar Georgetown foes in St. John’s and Seton Hall.

Off the jump, the Hoyas were sluggish. They were stymied offensively by the Seahawks heavy man-to-man pressure. Thomas Sorber (9PTS, 7REB, 6AST, 2STL, 3BLK) did his best to spark the offense with a couple of early assists, but Georgetown was forced into tough shots one possession after another. Thankfully, a block and a couple of steals by the Hoya bigs limited the Wagner scoring. At the under 12 timeout, Wagner lead 11-10 in what was a sloppy start to the contest.

With about 10 minutes left in the half, Georgetown was in the midst of a 6-minute field goal drought. With Georgetown struggling to find an easy basket, Malik Mack (16PTS, 2AST) came off a ball screen and drilled a three from the top of the key plus the foul; converting a 4-point play to help generate some momentum for the Hoyas. This would start a parade to the free throw line and sparked a 9-3 Hoya run.

Down the stretch in the first half, the Hoyas defense found their footing. They held Wagner to 5 points in the last 8 minutes and 30 seconds of the half. But while the defense started to click, the offense still sputtered. The Hoyas jumped out in transition after 5 different steals, but only had 2 points to show for it, as they were only able to cash in once with a Jordan Burks (10PTS, 3REB) dunk.

If you like offense, this what not the half for you. Thankfully, the Hoya defense stepped up, and Georgetown was awarded with an 8-point lead at halftime: 28-20.

Out of the intermission, the Hoyas defense continued to give Wagner fits. The Hoyas strung 4 consecutive stops together and finally got the offense warmed up, going a 15-2 run that initially began with 5 minutes left in the first half. Wagner was forced to call a timeout just 3 minutes into the half to talk things over, but it was of little help as Georgetown continued to pour it on with Drew Fielder getting a pair of back-to-back buckets—Hoyas led by 19.

The Wagner scoring drought, which began with 3:19 left in the 1st half, officially surpassed 10 minutes of game time and Georgetown showed no signs of letting up.

Micah Peavy (15PTS, 3REB, 5STL) got in on the action from beyond the arc, and I lost track of the number of stops the Hoyas had to start the second half because Wagner did not score until there was just 11:56 left in the 2nd half. By that time, Georgetown led 46-22.

Georgetown had every reason to throttle it back and play the possession game, but they kept it rolling. At this point, the game went through Sorber. Defensively, he was blocking shots, while offensively he was as good of a passer as he was a scorer, finishing with 6 assists. When the Hoyas got stops, they pushed the ball in transition, and it felt like Jordan Burks was finishing with a jam each time. Georgetown led 65-29 with 5 minutes left.

The last 5 minutes were relatively uneventful, but it was nice to see guys like Curtis Williams Jr. and Drew McKenna get some run. When it was all said and done, the Hoyas came away with a 66-41 victory.

The beginning of the second half of this game showed us what this Hoya team is capable of. They dominated defensively, creating 18 TOs. Offensively, it took Georgetown a few minutes to get their legs underneath them, but it eventually clicked. Sober is a renaissance man. He can score it, move the ball around the floor, and defend. It was nice to see a stress-free win. The Hoyas earned an extra plate headed into the Thanksgiving holiday.

Georgetown returns to action on Saturday 11/30 at 4:00PM to take on the University of Albany Great Danes at Capital One Arena.

Happy Thanksgiving and Hoya Saxa!