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Samardo Samuels slams home a dunk during the first half of Louisville’s 76-58 win over Georgetown Monday at Verizon Center. (AP)
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Poor shooting, turnovers doom Hoyas in bad loss
Chris Wright saw his chance. Exploding to the basket, the 6-foot-1 guard raised the ball with his right hand and forced it down.
But instead of a second-half dunk that would’ve cut into Louisville’s double-digit lead and provided just the kind of inspiration Georgetown so desperately craved to salvage its fast-fading season, the ball clanged off the back of the rim, and in a blink of an eye, the Cardinals had an easy layup at the other end.
The eventual 76-58 loss to No. 6 Louisville in front of a subdued 12,653 just might have been the final straw for the Hoyas (14-12, 5-10 Big East), ensuring that they’ll finish the regular season with a losing record in conference play and likely without an invitation to the NCAA Tournament.
While Wright led Georgetown with 12 points and Greg Monroe had 10, four players scored in double-figures for the Cardinals (22-5, 13-2), led by Earl Clark’s game-high 22 points and a 3-for-3 performance from beyond the arc.
After trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half, Georgetown got within eight on multiple occasions in the second. But each time the Hoyas were undone by poor outside shooting (3-for-16 from 3-point range), errors (15 turnovers), or most often, their unsurprising lack of rebounding (34-27 advantage for Louisville) that turned into quick and easy buckets at the other end.
The signs were ominous early, as the meltdown that had begun two days earlier over the final quarter of the Marquette game carried over. The Hoyas followed 10 second-half turnovers versus the Golden Eagles with nine more in the first half Monday evening, most of those coming in the first 10 minutes.
The Cardinals weren’t perfect, either, coughing up the ball nine times themselves before the break and 16 overall. But they made up for it by hitting their first nine shots from the field. Even when Clark airballed for Louisville’s first miss at the nine-minute mark — by which time the Cardinals were ahead, 26-13 — the Hoyas couldn’t take advantage at the other end as Jessie Sapp (9 points) missed two free throws.
Sapp did hit his third and fourth from the line as he scored seven straight points to end the half, trimming Louisville’s lead to 41-31 with a three-pointer just before the buzzer.
