Blowing a 12-point lead, Georgetown finds new ways to let fans down
Your Georgetown Hoyas (9-20, 2-16) allowed a late comeback from the Xavier Musketeers (15-14, 9-9 BE) and lost 98-93 on Senior Night. A defensive battle this was not, but the Hoyas led by 15 at one point and were front-running for almost the entire game. Still, it was a tale of two halves with fouls and free throws keeping Xavier close enough to capitalize on Georgetown’s familiar second-half defense woes (73.1% FG).
Final: Xavier 98, Georgetown 93
Musketeers (15-14, 9-9 BE) scored 61 second half points on 73.1 % shooting (19 of 26) to erase a 12 point halftime deficit and beat the Hoyas for the fifth straight game.
Hoyas (9-20, 2-16) led by as many as 15 in the game.
— Bobby Bancroft (@BobbyBancroft) March 3, 2024
The Hoyas led 49-37 at halftime. They shot 17-32 from the field and 8-13 from three. Xavier shot 11-29 from the floor and 1-8 from three. Georgetown led the half in points in the paint 18-16, rebounds 20-15, points off turnovers 8-6, and bench points 13-7. GU led by as much as 15 at times in the first and held a double-digit lead for the last 6+ minutes of the half.
One foretelling stat was that Xavier was 14-17 from the line in the first while GU was only 7-9.
Of course, the good fortune couldn’t last as the second half saw the script flipped with Xavier shooting well and Georgetown losing the aggressiveness that got them a lead. The confident Hoyas team who was moving the ball inside and outside to find open looks was long gone.
Out of halftime, Xavier pulled to 4 points with 14 minutes left before Georgetown extended the lead back to 10 points with under 8 minutes left. The lead steadily disappeared with a 14-4 run over 3:44.
With the game tied at 81-81 and 3:51 left, XU had shot 14-20 in the half (2-5 3PT) and 14-23 from the line while Georgetown was a meager 11-23 from the field (3-9 3PT) and 7-9 from the charity stripe. After the timeout Xavier took their first lead since early in the game.
Styles fouled out for GU and Ousman fouled out for XU. Both Epps and Brumbaugh missed 1 of 2 free throws that would have made it more interesting in the last minute, but it was done. Xavier beat the GU press one last time and got a wide-open dunk to seal the win.
The Muskies shot 73% in the second half (19-26) and made 3-6 three pointers. x did it with 32-16 margin in points in the paint after halftime and 15-5 points off of turnovers in the second period.
Xavier’s Desmond Claude led all scores with 36 points on 13-20 shooting, and 10-13 free throws. Three other Musketeers scored in double figures with Quincy Olivieri making 10-15 free throws and Dayvion McKnight making 6-7 foul shots. Xavier was 34-46 from the line for the night and 20-29 in the second half.
Rowan Brumbaugh scored 24 points on nine for 14 shooting including three for five from three and three for five from the free-throw line. Jayden Epps scored 20 points on 6 for 16 from the floor (2-7 from three-point) with 6-8 from the charity stripe.
Supreme Cook got another double-double with 15 points on 4-9 shooting from the field and 7-8 from the free-throw line along with 14 rebounds. Dontrez Styles scored 12 points and Jay Heath scored 14.
The Hoyas showed some chutzpah in this one, but Xavier leveraged free throws to stick around and close it out. Neither team’s defense should be studied as exemplary.
Georgetown has two games left: hosting Providence on Tuesday and visiting St. John’s on Saturday.